Conscious business enterprises and people are those that choose to follow a business strategy, in which they seek to benefit both human beings and the environment.
The conscious business movement in the US emerged from the theory of
corporate social responsibility, which pushes for a "values-based" approach where
values
In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live (normative ethics in ethics), or to describe the significance of di ...
represent social and environmental concerns both locally and globally. This effort is related to not-just-for-profit business models, conscious consumerism,
socially responsible investing
Socially responsible investing (SRI), social investment, sustainable socially conscious, "green" or ethical investing, is any investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social/environmental good to bring about soci ...
, and
Conscious capitalism.
There is an alternative way of thinking about conscious business emerging in the UK, and perhaps other countries, which tries to avoid
reification, regarding it less as a thing or a type of business which can be categorised, and more as an ongoing process including
awareness
Awareness is the state of being conscious of something. More specifically, it is the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events. Another definition describes it as a state wherein a subject is aware of some infor ...
,
self-awareness, awareness of purpose,
practice (social theory)
Practice theory (or praxeology, theory of social practices) is a body of social theory within anthropology and sociology that explains society and culture as the result of structure and individual agency. Practice theory emerged in the late 20th c ...
and relationships.
In Italy, De Nardi Gianluca illustrates through the use of business cases how every company could adopt conscious business processes.
Conscious business criteria
Doing no harm
It is generally agreed upon that the product or service of a conscious business should not be intrinsically harmful to humans or the environment. However, it is possible for such a business to be taking part in the conscious business movement if it is taking conscious steps to be more aware of its social and environmental effects, and to adopt more beneficial social or environmental practices.
Triple Bottom Line Model
Most conscious businesses subscribe to a
Triple Bottom Line
The triple bottom line (or otherwise noted as TBL or 3BL) is an accounting framework with three parts: social, environmental (or ecological) and economic. Some organizations have adopted the TBL framework to evaluate their performance in a broade ...
model of success. They aim to provide positive value in the domains of people, planet, and
profit.
The phrase "Triple Bottom Line" was coined by business
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
John Elkington in 1994.
Further reading
*Abergene, Patricia; ''Megatrends 2010: The Rise of Conscious Capitalism.'' Hampton Roads Publishing Company (September 2005).
*Burden, P and Warwick R; ''Leading Mindfully''. Burden and Warwick (2015)
*Dalai Lama and Cutler, H; ''The Art of Happiness at Work''.
Hodder and Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.
History
Early history
The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publishe ...
(2003)
*De Nardi, Gianluca; ''The business model of 'conscious companies' The EcorNaturaSì case"".
Ca' Foscari University of Venice
Ca' Foscari University of Venice ( it, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, simply Università Ca' Foscari) is a public university in Venice, Italy. Since its foundation in 1868, it has been housed in the Venetian Gothic palace of Ca' Foscari, from ...
(2017)
*Haque, Umair; ''Betterness: Economics for Humans''. Harvard Business Review Press (December 19, 2011)
*Hawken, Paul; ''Natural Capitalism.'' Back Bay Books; 1st edition (October 12, 2000).
*Kofman, Fred; ''Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Your Values.''
Sounds True
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
: September (2006).
*
Mackey, John; Sisodia, Rajendra; ''Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business.'' Harvard Business Press (January 2013)
*McInnes, Will; ''Culture Shock.''
John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, ...
(2012)
*Price, John; ''The Conscious Investor.''
John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, ...
(2011)
*Renesch, John; ''Conscious Leadership.'' Brown & Herron (June 17, 2002)
*Sisodia, Rajendra; Wolfe, David; Sheth, Jagdish; ''Firms of Endearment: How World-class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose.'' Pearson Prentice Hall (February 10, 2007)
*Sisodia, Rajendra;
Gelb, Michael J.; ''The Healing Organization: Awakening the Conscience of Business to Help Save the World.'' HarperCollins Leadership (September 2019).
*Stahlhofer, Nicolas; Schmidkonz, Christian; Kraft, Patricia "Conscious Business in Germany"
Springer
Springer or springers may refer to:
Publishers
* Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishing group founded in 1842 in Germany formerly known as Springer-Verlag.
** Springer Nature, a multinationa ...
(December 2017)
See also
*
B Corporation (certification)
In business, B Corporation (also B Lab or B Corp) is a private certification of for-profit companies of their " social and environmental performance." It is distinct from the legal designation as a benefit corporation. B Corp certification is ...
*
Business ethics
*
False consciousness
In Marxist theory, false consciousness is a term describing the ways in which material, ideological, and institutional processes are said to mislead members of the proletariat and other class actors within capitalist societies, concealing the ...
*
Marketing
Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...
*
Cognitive dissonance
In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information, and the mental toll of it. Relevant items of information include a person's actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environmen ...
*
Sustainable business
A sustainable business, or a green business, is an enterprise that has minimal negative impact or potentially a positive effect on the global or local Natural environment, environment, community, society, or economy—a business that strives to m ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conscious Business
Corporate social responsibility
Capitalism