Are values and profitability incompatible? Values have taken a central role in the debate about how private companies ought to conduct business in the post-recession era. The idea that businesses should go beyond the narrow measures of shareholder value maximization and embrace a wider role of a ‘responsible citizen’ (...)
Continue Reading →
Who is the Good Samaritan today? The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the most popular, well-known and compelling stories Jesus ever told. Rather than teaching in an academic and rather dry way by making general statements, Jesus taught people by telling stories which caught their imagination. (...)
Continue Reading →
Is the purpose of taxation payment for common services (defence, health, welfare) or a tool for the redistribution of wealth? That decision, and the balance between them, is a political one. However, there is nothing intrinsically moral about either high or progressive taxation. First, higher rates of taxation may not raise more revenue (the argument (...)
Continue Reading →
The market economy is not perfect. However, we do sometimes forget that it is the market that has delivered significant prosperity to the world and lifted millions of people out of poverty. Improvements in literacy and sanitation have contributed to a significant reduction in the number of people existing on (...)
Continue Reading →
I am fascinated that in the early years of the industrial revolution some of the great businesses were established by Quakers – not least the first iron foundry established by Abraham Darby. There were many others, Cadbury, Rowntree, Clarks’ Shoes, Barclays and Lloyds. Why was this so? The answer lies in some combination (...)
Continue Reading →