Busizens
Community of Businesses and Citizens
We campaign for a world where businesses and citizens will work together to promote prosperity and trust
Challenging orthodoxies of both the left and right, we examine a wide range of business cultures in order to divine the underlying principles that foster social and economic prosperity. Insisting that we cannot divorce economic life from cultural life, we contend that in an era when social capital may be as important as physical capital, only those societies with a high degree of social trust will be able to create the flexible, open minded companies that are needed to compete in the new global economy.
Trust is the antidote to the increasing drift into extreme forms of individualism, which, if unchecked, will have dire consequences for a prosperous future.
Our Vision
As a citizen of this world you have the power to change it and make it a better place.
We want to help to this process by building the tools and create the medium in order to obtain the power to do so.
Is this possible?
We believe it is!
Firms have historically been built on a grounding that puts profit first no matter the cost, this landscape is changing. Stakeholders are becoming more informed, more active, and firms are thus under increased pressure to conduct business in way that is both transparent, and responsible in both an environmental and socially ethical way.
Here we understand that businesses are vital for society, creating new opportunities, providing personal security through employment, and a host of products and services that we have come to depend on. We also acknowledge that business has been responsible for a number of negative impacts on the planet and its people. As far the negative impacts to the planet there have been a lot of mechanisms to protect the environment. Although, there is still a lot to be done until the measures will be sufficient, there are certain laws, ISO standards that contribute to this.
On the other hand, the responsibility of businesses to share their profits to society in a transparent way has not been addressed enough. There have been laws of minimal wages, and various acts and regulations to protect the employees but still the income gap increases, which leads to social injustice. In the end, no one knows, how the accumulated profit is used and how it is shared.
New Variable
Until now, a consumer could choose a product or a service looking into two variables.
Price and quality.
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How much does it cost?
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Can I afford it?
But what would have happened if you knew how the money you spend for a product that cost you 10 dollars for example are going back in the society?
For example, if you knew that the 10 dollars are going back to society in this way –
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5 dollars for taxes and expenses for overheads
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1 dollar for the employees of the shop and
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4 dollars to the owner of the shop.
And the next shop who was selling the same or similar product for 10 dollars – the money would go back to society in the following way –
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5 dollars for taxes and expenses for overheads
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3 dollars for the employees of the shop and
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2 dollars to the owner of the shop.
Where would you have chosen to get your product from?
The above example is very simple and there many factors that can distinguish a social responsible business with one that is not. Also it is very difficult to find a way to measure this and make it obvious for consumers who in the end will be the final appraiser. But these difficulties are not going to stop us from dreaming of a better world. In the contrary by acknowledge them we want with your help to get the wisdom to find a solution and incorporate this variable in a coherent and simple way for everyone to take it into account before a purchase of a product or a service.
We already know many good examples and practices of businesses and some of them you will find them in here. But we know that there are many more out there. So please let us know about them by registering these businesses here or take part to our forum to speak out about them. Thank you!
Busizens
A business practice that is economically viable, socially responsible and environmentally friendly is usually regarded as being sustainable.
Sustainable development is not just an environmental issue. It is about ensuring the quality of life that we have become accustomed to, into the long-term future. For businesses this means maintaining profitability, but finding new, more efficient ways of doing so, initially; by using less, by making less and by wasting less. In doing so businesses can gain much competitive advantage including; reduced bottom line costs, access to new markets, better quality of service, improved bid and tender offers. In the longer term wider societal and economic changes may be required to foster the development of circular economies that may be decoupled from a centralised approach to economic growth in which continued consumption results in the depletion of the planets finite supply of resources.
Taking a closer look at sustainable development four key principles emerge;
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futurity; a concern for future generations
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environment; a concern to protecting the integrity of the natural environment.
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equality; concern for the world’s poor and disadvantaged people.
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public participation; ensuring that all individuals can participate in decisions that affect them
If individuals, businesses and governments can work together to pursue more innovative and efficient ways of doing things, it is an achievable aspiration, and many success stories already exist.
Get Involved
There are many ways you can get involved and help us
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Sign in your Business
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Sign in as a Citizen
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Join the Discussion
Good Examples. One,
Support us
You can help us a lot by giving some of your precious time and/or your hard earned resources.
Donate
Your donation can help us make this world a better place. We have a long road to go and we can only do this with your help.
Some examples of what are we going to do with your donations are shown bellow.
At the moment our overheads are covered by ourselves, but as we grow bigger this is becoming very difficult. We would appreciated if we had some help with them so we can use our resources for more important tasks.
Cost for dissemination (Flyers, articles to newspaper, radio spots etc), organizing day events and many more are very important to make sure companies who act social and environmental responsible will be known and also help others who want to do the same!
We are very pleased that there are so many companies who want to join our initial scheme. In order to make this work we need your help with our initial expenses for recruiting staff that will help to this process. Eventually this process will be self-funded, but until this happen, we can only hope for your support.
Volunteer
Volunteers are a treasured resource for the organisation and their contributions is essential for us to succeed. Should you wish to volunteer your time you may be asked to assist our work through such things as:
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monitoring the international press
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translating
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undertaking research tasks
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participating in online communities
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raising funds assisting our dissementation
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supporting human resources and accounting programmes
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or loaning your own specialist expertise to an area of our work
Volunteers are generally recruited on a part time basis; each vacancy notice will include further details on the requirements of that placement and of course travel and food expenses will be funded.
About us
We are a group of people who believe they can make this world a better place.
We give the power to the people to change the world by creating the tools and medium to do so. We are funded by members and people like you. We are independent of any political ideology, economic interest or religion.
Do you have any questions? Please don't hesitate to contact us.