<p> Social Space Every Business a Social Business: Fantasy or Destiny</p><p>By K K Tse</p><p>‘Every Business a Social Business’ represents a ray of hope. “Hope is simply an existential phenomenon which has nothing to do with predicting the future…If we lose this feeling, we have only two alternatives: either we take our own life, or we choose the more usual way, that of merely surviving, vegetating, remaining in the world only because we happen to be there already.”</p><p>Founded by American Bill Drayton in 1980, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public was the first, and currently the largest, organization promoting and supporting social entrepreneurs world- wide. On the 25th anniversary of the founding of the organization, Drayton published a major article summarizing its experience and lessons. Its titles dramatically captures the fundamental learning of 25 years of intimate association with leading social entrepreneurs throughout the world: “Everyone a Changemaker: Social Entrepreneurship’s Ultimate Goal” 1 (Drayton, 2006).</p><p>A number of lessons stood out:</p><p>1. Almost without exceptions, social entrepreneurs are catalyst changemakers, in the sense that not only are they changemakers themselves, they also inspire and empower a large number of ordinary people to become changemakers.</p><p>2. The most enduring impact of social entrepreneurs is not so much the innovative products or services they create to meet social needs; it is rather the mindset change it brings about that change is possible and that changemakers can effect major, positive change in society.</p><p>3. All social entrepreneurs started as changemakers at a relatively young age; the changemaker mindset was already evident early in their careers.</p><p>After the publication of the article, Ashoka went on to redefine its mission to be “Making Everyone a Changemaker”. As Drayton puts it, “The most important contribution any of us can make now is not so much to solve any particular problem, no matter how urgent energy or environment or financial regulation is. What we must do is to increase the proportion of humans who know that they can cause change….Multiplying society’s capacity to adapt and change intelligently and constructively and building the necessary underlying collaborative architecture, is the world’s most critical opportunity now.” 2 ( Drayton, 2006)</p><p>I totally embrace Ashoka’s mission and have been an advocate for their approach in this part of the world since becoming a member of the Ashoka Support Network in 2007. Entering the 21st century, however, I think we should add another critical element into the picture: Making Every Business a Social Business.</p><p>A New Capitalism is Needed</p><p>The rationale for this scarcely requires elaboration. Gary Hamel in his foreword to The New Capitalist Manifesto 3 (Umair Haque, 2011) has put it succinctly:</p><p>“In recent years, customers and citizens have become increasingly disgruntled of society’s most powerful economic actors – large industrial companies…. If individuals around the world have lost faith in business, it’s because business has, in many ways, betrayed that trust…</p><p>“I’m a capitalist by conviction and profession. I believe the best economic system is one that rewards entrepreneurship and risk-taking, maximizes customer choice, uses markets to allocate scarce resources, and minimizes the regulatory burden on business. If there’s a better recipe for creating prosperity, I haven’t seen it – and neither have you….</p><p>“So what stands in the way of creating a conscientious, accountable, and sustainable sort of capitalism – a system that in the long term is actually habitable?”</p><p>Hamel argues that it is a matrix of deeply held beliefs that have long been taken for granted and never examined and challenged until recently. Among them are:</p><p> The paramount objective of a business is to make money (rather than to enhance human well-being in economically efficient ways).</p><p> Corporate leaders are held accountable only for the immediate effects of their actions (and not for the second- and third-order consequences of their single-minded pursuit of growth and profitability).</p><p> Executives should be evaluated and compensated on the basis of short-term earnings performance (rather than long-term value creation).</p><p> The firm’s ‘customers’ are the people who buy its products (rather than all those who are influenced by its actions).</p><p> It’s legitimate for a company to profit by exploiting customer ignorance or constraining customer choice.</p><p> Customers who’ve been ignored, manipulated, locked in, duped, or lied to will nurse their anger in private (rather than join forces with fellows sufferers to publicly shame their persecutors)</p><p> Employees are human resources first and human beings second. “These beliefs”, Hamel maintains, “are the real threats to capitalism….I may be an ardent supporter of capitalism – but I also understand that while Social business individuals have inalienable, God-given rights, corporations Social business 4 is a normal do not. Society can demand of corporations what it wills.” is a normal business with the business with the explicit goal of explicit goal of generating a generating a profit and Enter Social Business profit and creating social creating social I have a simple definition for social business: and and environmental A normal business with the explicit goal of generating a profit environmental and creating social or environmental benefit at the same time. benefit at the benefit at the same time. For a very long time, the conventional wisdom declares that the same time. sole purpose of a business is to maximize profit (or shareholder value) for its owners. The time has come for us to explicitly reject this narrow and increasingly dysfunctional conception of what a business is all about.</p><p>Every Business a Social Business is the number one priority in our effort to reinvent capitalism. The question is no longer the why or when will this come about, but how to accelerate its realization. To be sure, like ‘Everyone a Changermaker’, it might take decades, if not centuries, to realize ‘Every Business a Social Business’, but the wind of change is already blowing hard. Below are some exciting examples.</p><p>1. Walmart -- Too Good to be true</p><p>Business as Usual Wind of Change</p><p> Largest retailer in the world  In 2007, it announced plans to rebuild the company with 3 major goals:  Accounting for 25% of US ~ To use 100% renewable energy food sales ~ To achieve zero waste ~ To sell only products that benefit the environment  Known for its ruthless  In 2011, it reported having eliminated more than 80% of exploitation of natural the waste that would go to landfills from the operations in resources, squeezing California and reduced plastic bag waste across the globe suppliers, and crushing by 21% communities  Made a global commitment to sustainable agriculture and created a global Sustainability Index to evaluate the  Regarded as Public Enemy sustainability of the products it sells No. 1 for a generation of  Partnered with NGO Marine Stewardship Council to bring activists and reformers to market sustainably harvested fish at a lower cost to consumers than unsustainably harvested fish.</p><p>2. General Electric – Giant Step Pays off </p><p>Business as Usual Wind of Change</p><p> Largest industrial  ‘ Ecomagination’ initiative started in 2004 to drive corporation in the U.S. innovation by tackling some of the planet’s biggest problems – energy efficiency and harmful environmental impacts  Known for its ruthless  Set targets for doubling its R & D investment in clean pursuit of profitability technologies to $1.5 billion per year by 2010 and growing revenues from eco products to $20 billion by 2010  Also known for its  Committed to cutting its greenhouse gas intensity by agility in anticipating and 30% by 2008 and to cutting absolute emissions by 1 percent adapting to market changes by 2012 (as compared with what would have been a 40% increase in a business-as-usual scenario).  Within five years, launched more than 90 products and services with US$18 billion revenues</p><p>3. Interface Carpets – the Radical Industrialist</p><p>Business as Usual Wind of Change</p><p> Used to be a conventional  Committed to pioneering the ‘next industrial manufacturer of flooring revolution’ and ‘unhooked from the oil well’ products  Developed technologies to produce carpets with  Turned vinyl and other recyclable yarns from bio-based fibers made from corn petroleum products into starch carpets  Through its ReEntry program, pioneered carpet  Total dependence on oil reclamation and recycling – ‘Interface Wants Your industry for inputs Carpet’ – recycling own and rivals’ carpets  Unsustainable from both  Become ‘waste positive’ by reclaiming other people’s business and waste, minimizing total amount of waste in society environmental points of  By far the world’s single most most-renewable view business today</p><p>4. Nike -- Creating the shoes of the future</p><p>Business as Usual Wind of Change</p><p> Made its fortune through  Since 2000, launched Considered Index which assessed celebrity marketing, supplier the environmental footprint of its shoes from design to exploitation, and total production and distribution, energy use, water use, disregard for the environment recycling intensity and carbon impact.  Began using environmentally friendly, low-energy  Obsessed with artificial materials and recycled rubber. Result: a 13% lighter shoe differentiation with an 83% recycled sole.  Committed to applying same design approach to all shoes  A textbook case of in 2011, all apparel by 2015, and all products by 2020. brand orchestration, push-  Customer in the future could bring in used shoes at Nike marketing, mass-produced stores which will then be used to manufacture new shoes. consumer goods  Comprehensive program for reuse, recycle, repurpose, remanufacture and remarketing of all products and inputs.</p><p>5. Danone – Partner for health</p><p>Business as Usual Wind of Change</p><p> A French family business  A new chairman in 1994 changed company focus and founded in 1919 strategy  Used to manufacture a wide  Started producing only wholesome, health food and range of food products dropped all other lines  Worth US$16 billion, with a  Partnered with Muhammad Yunus to form Grameen heavy weight board Danone to develop and market a highly nutritious yoghurt  Its shareholders only for children, affordable to the poorest families in Bangladesh understood one word:  Largely because of its emphasis on human values and profit social principles, Danone UK was ranked No. 1 in the list of the best companies to work in the UK in 2009 6. Automobile – Change on the Fast Lane </p><p>Business as Usual Wind of Change</p><p> Automobile was one of  Tata Group in India is producing a much lighter, the most important industrial energy-efficient car, Nano, at a fraction of a inventions of our time conventional car’s cost  BYD in China is revolutionizing battery technology  Long dominated by a for electric cars. few players  Better still is Better Place, a new company building infrastructure in cities/countries to completely  Stubbornly resistant to transform private motoring. change and innovation  Better Place is developing the network and services that will make an electronic car affordable to buy and  The Big Three in the US easy to use through the creation of nation-wide lost more than US$50 billion in network of charge spots, battery switch stations and 2008. systems that minimize environmental impact and cost.</p><p>B</p><p>‘I Rest My Case Studies’ from Richard Branson</p><p>The latest book written by Richard Branson of Virgin fame bears the title of Screw Business as Usual 5 (Branson, 2011). It addresses the question of “Can we bring more meaning to our lives and change the world at the same time?” Branson attempts to show how exciting this new vision will be for all of us. His message is simple: It is time to turn capitalism upside down – to shift our values, to switch from a profit focus to caring for people, communities and the planet. He makes it sound “easy for both businesses and individuals to embark on a whole new way of doing things, solving major problems and turning our work into something we both love and proud of.”</p><p>In the final part of the book, Branson documented a number of ‘I Rest My Case Studies’ of companies that he admires and are pointing the way the new capitalist economy should evolve. These cases are part of the wind of change that we are experiencing. Here is a sample of them 6 (Branson, 2011, p.339-357): Aravind Eye Care Systems – Sight for Sore Eyes www.aravind.org</p><p>Aravind is sort of the Robin Hood of eye care and a great example of Capitalism 24902 (Branson’s designation of the new capitalism; the circumference of the earth is 24,902 miles), as it charges wealthier patients more and poor patient less. Founded by Dr. V of India, it has become the world’s largest eye care system. 45 million of the world’s population is blind; 12 million of them live in India. Many lose their sight and livelihood by their early fifties, yet 80% of this blindness could be prevented or cured. Aravind is a profitable, scalable social business with a single-minded focus on its mission of ‘Eliminating unnecessary blindness’.</p><p>Dutch Postcode Lottery -- Improving the Odds www.postcodelottery.com</p><p>Boudewijn Poelmann is an entrepreneur with a big heart who believed that he could change the world through business. When he started the Postcode Lottery in 1989, he wanted to turn the Dutch lottery upside down. He came from a background of business and development and was passionate about combining the two to drive significant change in the world. He wanted the business to be all about communities and he wanted to raise significant funds to support organizations working for a fairer, freer and greener world. The postcode lottery model is a unique one. You don't win as an individual -- you win as a community. It is all based around postcodes. So if your postcode comes up as a winner, everyone in that community who bought a ticket shares in the winnings. They have great block parties to bring everyone together to celebrate. 50% of income goes to charity. They now have over 2.5 million participants who buy more than 4.5 million tickets, which allow them to distribute hundreds of millions of Euros a year. The lottery has expanded to Sweden, England and Scotland.</p><p>Salesforce.com -- Hey, You, Get on to my Cloud www.salesforce.com</p><p>Salesforce.com is a company that makes software to help businesses manage more effectively, such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff, a former Oracle executive, and a team of expert software developers, Salesforce has become of one the top five fastest growing companies in the world. The company is incredibly creative about drawing on resources across all its operations to make a difference. For example, with its 100,000 customers, Salesforce is building a global alliance of businesses that are implementing solutions to protect natural resources and reduce carbon consumption through cloud computing. The company has developed the industry's most energy-efficient model for carbon savings with a system that uses 95 less carbon than traditional computing systems. In 2010, Salesforce's customers saved 170,900 tonnes of carbon emissions - which is equivalent to taking 37,000 cars off the road. Truly a force to be reckoned with.</p><p>Ecotact -- Flush with Success www.ecotact.org</p><p>You don't automatically think of sanitation as a potential business, but luckily David Kuria, founder of Ecotact, did. From 1950, Nairobi's population grew at an alarming rate, rising from six million to over 40 million in 2010. Yet the government had not invested in public sanitation facilities for over thirty years. In 2007, there were only 138 public facilities available in the whole of Kenya. During the night slum-dwellers would throw plastic bags, known as 'flying toilets', on to rooftops and wasteland to dispose human waste. An architect by training, with an eye for infrastructure and a background in upgrading slum dwellings, Kuria felt frustrated by the experience of trying to effect change through a role with the government. He left to work directly with a not-for-profit organization, but even there became disillusioned with 'donor handout syndrome' that encouraged communities to become dependent on a donor-funding system that would prove unsustainable. He chose instead to take a private sector approach to fill the glaringly obvious need for public toilets. He built a franchise model for low-cost public toilet and sanitation stations that could give dignity to those living in under-deserved communities. The organization now employs over one hundred people serving an average of 300,000 people daily with safe water and sanitation and saving the community huge costs in healthcare.</p><p>Method -- a Best Smeller www.methodproducts.com</p><p>'method', the San Francisco company that produces biodegradable, non-toxic cleaning supplies, has turned conventional thinking and behaviour in the consumer packaged-goods industry on its head. Eric Ryan, a marketing guru who had worked at Gap and Saturn, knew that people were looking for stylish, effective household supplies that smell as good as they look. Adam Lowry, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution, knew how to make them without any toxic ingredients. The former roommates teamed up to start method in 2001 with a pretty simple philosophy: 'It's OK to use high-tech materials, products, and gadgets that make our lives better, we just need to design products so those materials can be infinitely used.' method hasn't just made a name for itself through its environmental and social achievements. Since making its first sale of four cleaning sprays in 2001, method has become a brilliant success story of the new economy. By 2006 it was one of the top ten fastest growing companies in the US and by 2008 it was turning over more than $100 million in annual sales. Its products are sold nation-wide by giant retailers like Target and Costco, as well as in Canada, the UK, Australia, France and Japan. The title on Adam's business card says a lot about their 'funtastic' new approach to business. He is the company's Chief Greens Keeper!</p><p>Working Assets -- 1.5 Million and Counting www.workingassests.com</p><p>Working Assets is not your typical communication company. While they sell credit cards, mobile and long-distance services, their mission is to support peace, equality, human rights and the environment. They have created a community of customers, staff, suppliers and activists that by 2010 was 1.5 million strong. The company makes it easy for people to make a difference in the world -- just by going about their daily lives. Each time a customer uses their mobile, credit card or long-distance service, Working Assets donates one per cent of the charges to organizations tackling issues such as civil rights, the environment, economic and social justice and peace. Since it was founded in 1985, members have come together to generate more than US$67 million to non-profits. Employees and customers also use the company's networks and technology to facilitate the formation of voluntary coalitions and putting strength of numbers behind lobbying pitches. Now, just imagine if every company mobilized their communities to make a difference.</p><p>Kimberly Clark -- Loo's Change www.kimberly-clark.com</p><p>There are probably few things that equal the good old fashioned toilet roll as a staple item in every home in the western world. They have been the same forever and who would ever think of changing them? Well Kimberly Clark, one of the world's leading paper goods manufacturers did and has just announced the 'tubeless toilet roll'. Their Scott brand has begun marketing toilet rolls without the little cardboard tube in the middle. No big deal you say? Think again. In the US alone 17 billion tubes go into landfills every year - that's about 160 million pounds of cardboard waste. Put another way placed end to end they'd stretch more than a million miles. Well done KC, may you be flushed with success.</p><p>Every Business a Social Business: Fantasy or Destiny</p><p>It is not fantasy as more and more ‘business as usual’ is transforming themselves into social business.</p><p>It is not destiny as it is not a foregone trend and requires a lot of will power and advocacy to make it happen. How to make sense of the wind of change and what we should do to shape future development?</p><p>Umair Haque in his book The Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business 7 (Haque, 2011) offers some penetrating insights.</p><p>“In 1776, one man found himself at the centre of a maelstrom. Hurricanes of change lashed the globe: growing markets, expanding international trade, a rising middle class, disruptive technologies, novel commercial entities. Yet, where his contemporaries saw chaos, Adam Smith saw hitherto unimagined possibilities.</p><p>“ In the Wealth of Nations, Smith envisioned with startling prescience a very different prosperity: one in which capitalist, not the mercantilists, aristocrats, and agrarians who had preceded them, held sway.” 8 (Haque, 2011, p.xvii)</p><p>But, Haque reminded us, in 1776, horses provided power for carts and carriages; steam-powered locomotives would not arrive until the next century. The economy’s central axis was household, not even medium-sized corporations. Ownership of land, mills, tools, and rights was sharply concentrated in the hands of the nobility; the ‘joint-stock companies’ in their embryonic forms, required government charter or royal decree for incorporation. </p><p>“It was, in short, not a world in which the capitalist enterprise as we know it today might have been foreseen to flourish. Yet, by seeing through the maelstrom, Smith synthesized, in detail and with ruthless logic, his new vision of prosperity.” 9 (Haque, 2011, p.xviii) </p><p>The question Haque poses to us is this: What if the future of capitalism will be as different from its present as Adam Smith’s vision was from its present?</p><p>It is totally possible. That is why although ‘Every Business a Social Business’ seems such a far cry from the present reality, it is a future that is imaginable, conceivable and realizable. But it does not mean that we could just sit back and wait for it to happen. Through conscious and collaborative efforts from changemakers around the world, it is possible to greatly accelerate the process of its realization.</p><p>Some Strategic Milestones</p><p>It is apparent that ‘Every Business a Social Business’ will not come about overnight. There is, a number of strategic milestones we could identify and focus our attention and energy. Some of these are:</p><p> Every Family Business a Social Business  Every New Business a Social Business</p><p> Every Business School a Social Business School</p><p> Every Gap Year for Young People a Social Business Experience</p><p> Every Intellectual a Social Business Advocate</p><p>Every Family Business a Social Business </p><p>Two years ago, I was invited to address a conference organized by a family business organization. The theme of the conference was exactly “Every Family Business a Social Business”. I was intrigued and asked the organizer why they had chosen this theme. The response was illuminating: as family businesses are keen to pass on the business from generation to generation, they have a much stronger interest in making it sustainable over the long term.</p><p>Whether it is privately owned or publicly-listed, there is usually a higher concentration of ownership which makes it sometimes easier to make strategic decisions that might have an impact on short term profitability. In short, family businesses are likely to be more receptive to transforming themselves into social business provided the right kinds of education, stimulus and role models are available to sway their thinking.</p><p>Every New Business a Social Business </p><p>New business in two senses: brand new start-ups and new business units set up by existing corporations. We hope one day, ‘business as usual’ will become so unattractive that all new business start-ups will be social businesses. Currently, when a new business is formed, the range of support given to them is rather limited. It might consist of some government sponsored small business loan/grants schemes, tax holidays, and some business advisory services. With social businesses, the range of support could be far more comprehensive. </p><p>In addition to government effort, there are already a lot of civil society organizations providing a great variety of support for social business start-ups, from training, mentoring, incubation, professional services support, all the way to angel investing and impact investing, For existing businesses, the natural strategy for entering the social business field would be setting up new social business ventures. They might not require as much outside support as the start-ups, but they have the opportunity to collaborate with social businesses and/or NGOs in a variety of ways, sometimes leading to the creation of hybrid organizations.</p><p>Every Business School a Social Business School When the Harvard Business School was first established in 1908, it was the first of its kind in the world; the two-year MBA was first offered by the School in 1910. The launching of the School “All business schools advocate that the represents exemplary foresight on the part of “All business schools advocate that the fundamental mission of a business is to make Harvard University leadership to anticipate the fundamental mission of a business is to make profits for shareholders. Everything else is rapidly growing and unmet needs of business profits for shareholders. Everything else is subsidiary. There is no school of thought in education. HBS remains one of the best business subsidiary. There is no school of thought in business schools that goes against the schools today. business schools that goes against the dominant view of business today. dominant view of business today. As part of the centenary anniversary celebration, If you are schooled in that belief, you will the School undertook a soul-searching review of If you are schooled in that belief, you will obviously perceive the main aim of a Chief st obviously perceive the main aim of a Chief its role in the 21 Century. Two new books Executive Officer as one who makes profits for Executive Officer as one who makes profits for capture some of the deliberations. Capitalism at shareholders. So his KPI is essentially to make shareholders. So his KPI is essentially to make Risk: Rethinking the Role of Business by money. Now, if you do not change that money. Now, if you do not change that Joseph L Bower, Herman B Leonard and Lynn S worldview, I do not think you can change 10 worldview, I do not think you can change Paine anything else in the business paradigm.” anything else in the business paradigm.” Ho Kong Ping, Entrepreneur and Ho Kong Ping, Entrepreneur and Chairman of the Board of Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Singapore Management University, Trustees of Singapore Management University, (Bower, et al, 2011) paints an alarming scenario interviewed by Social Space, Issue 2, 2009, interviewed by Social Space, Issue 2, 2009, about the future of capitalism. Basically it argues page 16. page 16. that the current mode of capitalism is unsustainable and there are ten disruptive threats that could unsettle the global capitalist system beyond recognition. The other volume is Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads by Srikant Datar, David Garvin, Patrick Cullen 11 (Dater et al, 2011). The book has already been hailed as a wake-up call for global business education. It highlights the growing gap between what business schools teach MBA students and what the real world demands of them. The message is clear: if social business is what we need in the future, business schools around the world need to transform themselves in the direction of a Social Business School and not be contented to stick with skills and approaches for ‘business as usual’.</p><p>Every Gap Year a Social Business Experience </p><p>‘Gap year’ refers to the year-long (sometimes more than a year) interval between high school and university that affluent students in the West often take to travel aboard or do voluntary or paid work for some organizations. It is not as well known or popular in this part of the world. But things are changing. More and more young people in the more affluent cities of Asia are now taking the gap year, usually traveling overseas to gain exposure or work experience. Basically, having a gap year is very beneficial for young people and should be made universal so that both the well-to-do and not-so-well-to-do young people could benefit from this experience. This is particularly valuable to those who are seeking a university education. Indeed, Harvard University is leading the way by announcing that it actively encourages all students admitted to the University to take a gap year before starting their courses; the University reserves the admission rights for them on completion of the gap year. It would be wonderful if the gap year (or at least part of it) could be spent in a social business, either in one’s own country or another country. The practical experience of working in a social business would be the best education for our young people before they decide what they want to do with their lives and their further education.</p><p>Every Intellectual a Social Business Advocate </p><p>The term 'intellectual' scarcely surfaces in daily language nowadays. Where have all the intellectuals gone? Or are their role no longer relevant in contemporary society? I think it has more to do with how we understand the concept of intellectual. Since the Industrial Revolution, concepts like 'intelligentsia', 'intellectual', 'public intellectual' have come into use under different historical circumstances. They all refer to a select group of the educated class who exert substantial influence in society.</p><p>'Intelligentsia' refers to those well-educated members of the population who undertake to lead the people and guide their enlightenment. The term was most widely used in nineteenth century Europe. 'Intellectual', on the other hand, is more popularly used in 20th century in economically advanced societies and refers to a person who uses thought and reason in either a professional or a personal capacity and is usually a person of notable distinction whose knowledge grants him or her intellectual authority in public discourse. 'Public intellectual' is a common term for an intellectual engaged in public rather than academic or other professional discourse, and is expected to "rise above the partial preoccupation of one’s own profession . . . and engage with the global issues of truth, judgment, and taste of the time."</p><p>Entering the 21st century, it is possible to propose a new definition of the intellectual -- a person who possesses insights (not just knowledge) into the society's central issues and has the courage to harnessing his or her intellectual and other resources to shape the society's development. Given that the transformation of business as usual into social business represents perhaps the single most critical challenge of contemporary society, the contribution of the intellectual could make a major difference. With the advent of globalization and unprecedented use of information technology, the potential power and influence of the intellectual could be immense. What is more, the intellectual of the 21st century is unlikely to be confined to circles of academia, literature and culture; indeed, some of the most influential intellectuals might come from the ranks of businesspeople, executives and professionals. The rethinking, reframing and advocacy for a change of the role of business will constitute major challenges for the intellectuals of our times. Concluding Remarks</p><p>Let us recap the definition of a social business:</p><p>It is a normal business with the explicit goal of generating a profit and creating social and/or environmental impact at the same time.</p><p>'Every Business a Social Business' is not a fantasy as we are witnessing more and more social businesses surfacing every day, every hour, and every minute in different corners of the globe. It is, however, not a destiny as the resistance generated from sheer habit and naked greed is formidable and might distract or slow down the process of full-scale transition to social business.</p><p>What is more, there requires a societal paradigm shift from business as usual to social business which is nothing less than a fundamental and radical mindset change and which will come about only through the sustained and innovative effort of many individuals and organizations as part of a global civic movement. In this movement, social entrepreneurs, platform organizations promoting social entrepreneurship, pioneer social business creators, business and professional organizations, educators, impact investors, intellectuals and changemakers of diverse persuasions, will all be playing a vital part in shaping and guiding this transformation. It might well be the single most important global civic movement of this century. And we have to date only seen the very first steps in a journey of ten thousand miles.</p><p>It might be appropriate to end this article with a quote from Vaclav Havel, a leading intellectual of our times (playwright, dissident, and President of Czechoslovakia) from a speech he delivered at The Future of Hope Conference in Hiroshima, 1995, collected in his book The Art of the Impossible: Politics as Morality in Practice 12 (Havel, 1997):</p><p>“Many times in my life – and not just when I was in prison – I found myself in a situation in which everything seemed to conspire against me, when nothing I had wished for or worked for seemed likely to succeed, when I had no visible evidence that anything I was doing had any meaning whatsoever. Each time, I would eventually realize that hope, in the deepest sense of the word, does not come from the outside….Hope is above all a state of mind, and that as such either we have it or we don’t, quite independent of the state of affairs immediately around us. Hope is simply an existential phenomenon which has nothing to do with predicting the future…If we lose this feeling, we have only two alternatives: either we take our own life, or we choose the more usual way, that of merely surviving, vegetating, remaining in the world only because we happen to be there already.” (Emphases added) KK Tse</p><p>April 7, 2012</p>