'Mutuals?'
Mutuals.
Mutuals - companies owned by their customers and staff - can meet growing public demand for business to do more for society and the environment, a new report shows today.
'What's this, boss? PR email?'
Yeah.
Research from the Social Market Foundation shows that the public largely thinks that business is falling short on its social responsibilities and putting profits ahead of purpose.
Surprise, surprise.
'But isn't it the purpose of business to make profits? Or am I missing something?'
They're making too much profits, Voice. Probably. I don't know. I just know that everything is really expensive these days.
There's a lot of this email. I'm not doing all of it.
'Do that bit, there.'
All right.
For the report, the SMF commissioned Opinium to ask a representative sample of 1,500 members of the public (GB, March 2023) what they think about business and society.
The poll found significant public demand for business to put social impact ahead of profit: 44% of respondents think businesses should have responsibility for tackling key social issues including the cost of living, climate change and the state of local communities.
Yet the public think that most businesses are failing in their social obligations: only 17% think business benefits workers; 16% see business as good for communities; and 16% think companies are doing a good job of limiting environmental harms.
By contrast, 48% said companies prioritise profits for shareholders.
Well, that's just the way it is, man. And it's the way things will stay until civilization collapses, and then we will see some real change.
'Yippee! I can't wait!'
Shut up, idiot.
Anyway, let's go to the voices ...
Jake Shepherd, Senior Researcher at the Social Market Foundation, says: "The public increasingly want businesses to do better on sustainability, social responsibility, and ethical sourcing, and not just prioritise profits for shareholders. Mutuals are built to satisfy that appetite for a better way of doing business and our research shows that people strongly value the mutual approach.
"Anyone who cares about public faith in the market economy should take an interest in mutuals, which are perfectly placed to satisfy public desire for more responsible, more caring business practice.
"Unfortunately, not enough people are aware of mutuals, and mutuals tend to have less firepower in the market compared with proprietary firms. Meanwhile, financial legislation and regulation makes it difficult for some mutuals to thrive. To capitalise on the opportunities mutuals present to members, the economy, and wider society, these challenges should be addressed."
Kev?
Kevin Parry OBE, Chairman, Nationwide and Royal London, adds: "Mutuals are a valuable part of a thriving economy. They offer genuine consumer choice and a model distinct from shareholder-led companies. The decline in the UK's mutual sector has left the UK lagging behind other nations where the sector represents a much more significant part of their economies.
"As the report shows, for a more balanced economy and to encourage choice, we need the sector to grow by encouraging smaller mutuals to scale up and larger mutuals to continue to thrive. Ultimately, this can only be achieved with new financing models. We hope politicians from all sides will put their full support behind the mutual sector."
Okay. Thanks.
ENDS
...
Anything else? Poetry?
I've written another poem. 'Yippee!' My fourth. This one is very short. Only eight lines. However, it's not filler. It reads like a very short Shakespeare speech - in a modern voice, obviously. Can't stress that enough.
This is really strange though. I have control over the poems when it comes to length, style, punctuation, etc ... but I don't seem to be in control of the subject matter. The last three poems have more or less written themselves. I'm just shaping them. I don't know what's going on.
'Mystical, Mikey.'
Yes, Voice. I'm Mystical Mikey. And I'm not complaining.
So, uh ... ???
Oh, I've been trying to understand Alexander the Great's mindset, and it's occurred to me that Alexander probably didn't see any difference between dying at thirty-two and dying at eighty-two. Why not? Because he knew there would be hundreds, and thousands, and millions, and billions of years to come after his death. So, what difference does it make? However long you live, you're going to miss out on a hell of a lot of life. The only thing to do then, is to spend all your time making sure that your name and your story will live on for as long as possible. Anything else is a humiliation.
Of course, there's the afterlife. But none of us have any guarantees for anything concerning that.
'You do.'
Yeah, I do, Voice. But I'm not getting into that now.
Laters!
