Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism

Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism | Muhammad Yunus | Social Business = Human Business

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Creating a World W...

	Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism Muhammad Yunus PublicAffairs, 2008 - 296 pages average customer review:based on 27 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Bought 1000 copies of this book for peer readers clubs

Its impossible for me to believe in the true practical interests of any economist who fails to read this book. 20th century development theory which does not make itself openly measurable to compounding the end of poverty is chicanery - well isnt it?

Equally right now yunus economics connects through more practical compound truths/conseqeunces than any other word worth experiencing or studying I know of including democracy, sustainability, climate, peace.

Anyone who wants to change the world's humanity or sustainability in small or deep world-waving ways can collaborate with Yunus methods; and equally he is building webs so that his reputation applauds all such local citizens and global villagers

I freely admit bias in that I spent my first week of 2008 in Bangladesh thanking and listening to everyone in Grameen organisation that I could connect with.

Love to hear from fellow readers and hi-trust economics collaboration entrepreneurs eg at facebook chris macrae

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Social Business = Human Business

What a wonderful and uplifting book. Personally, I hate what corporate america has become...bent on making all the money that they can and keeping it for themselves. Mr. Yunus tells of how the make all the money you can approach makes people one dimensional instead of what we really are, multi-dimensional. The number one measure of a business should not be how much money it makes, but how much it has benefited society.

Mr. Yunus does a good job at explaining exactly what he means by a Social Business and gives real life examples. He is realistic by understanding that money is what makes the economy go around, but has a better way of using all that money out there. Companies like Intel and the makers of Danon Yogart have recently dedicated some of their resources to being a Social Business. I recommend this book for everyone. I am developing my own online business and plan on running it in a Social Business way. Thank you Mr. Yunus.

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Revolution Ideas

Like many new ideas, the book is at the same time terrifying and exciting.

He challenges that capitalism in it's current structure neglects a significant portion of the world's population and is threatening the global environment. While he asserts that there is much that is good about a free-market economy and global economic expansion, he challenges that capitalism in it's current manifestation fails in that it takes a one-dimensional view of man:

We've created a one-dimensional human being to play the role of business leader, the so-called entrepreneur. We've insulated him from the rest of life, the religious, emotional, political, and social. He is dedicated to one mission only - maximize profit. ... To quote Oscar Wilde, they know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

He claims that we are so conditioned to accept the free-market as it is that we can not even conceive of it having short-comings:

When believers in this theory see gloomy news on television they should begin to wonder whether the pursuit of profit is a cure-all, but they usually dismiss their doubts, blaming all the bad things in the world on 'market failures.' They have trained their minds to believe that well-functioning markets simply cannot produce unpleasant results.

Given this inability of profit-driven capitalism to solve many of the world's problems, he proposes a slight modification to the business model - the creation of 'social businesses.' These businesses operate in every way exactly like normal businesses except that they provide no dividend. All profits remain with the business to grow the business to do more social good.

Investors can get their original investment out of the business at any time but no more than their initial investment. He proposes a social stock market where shares in these social businesses can be bought and sold. Social stock markets provide returns for investors as stock valuation increases based on the social good provided by the social business.

While perhaps a little Utopian in its view, it is thought-proving and the book provides good examples of real social businesses in action including a joint-venture that Grameen Bank has with Dannon Yogurt's parent company Danone.

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Finally, some good news...

This book is one of the most positive and uplifting things I have come across in a while. I'm only half way through it at present, but the commitment and compassion of Muhammad has literally moved me to tears more than once. Which is all well and good, but it is the practical implications of what he's accomplished and proposes that set's him apart from the usual suspects of the profit-driven status quo. Here is a leader with some real answers. A little chip of cynicism has broken off of me and I feel a bit brighter & lighter because of it. May we all prosper, as we will.
Thanks M.Y.

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Fascinating and inspirational

Muhammad Yunus, the famed banker who has helped many people pull themselves out of poverty gives us a tour de force in this fascinating and inspiration account of how the world can be transformed through micro finance and through improving the lives of everyday poor people. Rather than allowing society to resign itself to having millions of poor, Yunus argues that banks and governments must reach out through following his models, tested and proven, to help people escape poverty through empowerment, rather than welfare.

This ia a fascinating and amazing read and everyone should read it and learn from it, from politicians to everday folk.

Seth J. Frantzman

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6

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