Forest / Trees

John — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:41:59 -0400

Edwards makes a number of good points at the micro level. What he has failed to do is back up and look at the big picture. For-profits and non-profits have their strengths and weaknesses, and both can (and should) be applied effectively into benevolence, philanthropy, sustainable systems, and conscious use of funds.

A Dialogue on Philanthrocapitalism: Working Passionately, but in the Wrong Direction?

Nitin Rao — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:05:33 -0400

This is part 4 of our series reviewing Michael Edwards' Just Another Emperor and the concept of 'philanthrocapitalism', which will conclude next week with remarks from other members of the NextBillion.net team. Follow the links to read part 1, part 2 and part 3.

The close-knit community of development-through-enterprise professionals in Hyderabad woke up a couple of weeks ago to a series of e-mail forwards of an interesting article in the Financial Times. Michael Edwards, author of "Just Another Emperor", had raised a series of points that the development sector was driven by misguided calls for business thinking, leaving this community with hard questions: Were they working passionately, but in the wrong direction?

The crux of Edwards' argument is that the development sector should follow a different logic from business thinking and be driven by its unique values of compassion and collaboration.

He writes:

The reason is that business and non-profits operate on different logics - competition and co-operation, individualism and collective action, market share and sacrifice or service. You wouldn't use a typewriter to plough a field or a tractor to write a book, so why use business thinking in areas where different instruments are needed.

It is certainly true that the development sector is unique in many ways, but this does not mean that its values are opposed to sustainable business or, as Edwards suggests, that it should be protected from measures of profit.

(This post continues past the break; click "Read More" to continue)

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Forest / Trees

A Dialogue on Philanthrocapitalism: Working Passionately, but in the Wrong Direction?