Walter Kish

Capitalism and big business have taken quite a beating these past few years in the eyes of an increasingly skeptical and victimized public. When Communism collapsed as both a viable political and economic system over a decade ago, many thought that the golden age of free enterprise was now set to flourish and bring prosperity to the world’s long-suffering and oppressed masses.

We should not be at all surprised that this proved to be little more than wishful thinking. In the former Soviet empire, capitalism is indeed flourishing, but it is a particularly brutish form of gangster capitalism. Money and power is concentrated in the hands of a small minority of oligarchs motivated by little more than naked greed and selfishness. The majority of the population have been impoverished and are now living even worse than when they were the exploited subjects of the communist state. There are those in the West that believe that, though this is unfortunate, it is an unavoidable evolutionary step on the road to the "true" and more beneficial capitalist system we have in North America.

Let us not be too smug on this point. Our particular brand of free enterprise may appear to be a far removed from the corruption and injustice found in Ukraine and Russia, but it is also far from the ideal system that we think it is. The last few years have provided substantial proof that we too, still have a ways to go before we achieve a truly just and equitable system of managing this world’s wealth, resources and potential.

The Enron scandal was a wake-up call that all was not well in the world of big business that dominates our western economies. Enron was soon joined by Arthur Anderson, Worldcom, Adelphia, Tyco and many others on a rapidly growing list of notorious examples of business fraud and malfeasance. Individually, they were nothing new. Over the past decade, it seems each year brought with it a new corporate scandal, a new Bre-X or Barings Bank fiasco to liven up the front pages of the Business section. What has been notable is that the scale of the wrongdoing has been increasing disturbingly, as well as the extent of fiscal damage done and people hurt. It has reached the point where investor confidence is at an all time low as credibility in the integrity and honesty of our business structures and the people that lead them has all but evaporated. It seems that the unrestricted pursuit of the almighty dollar at the expense of all else is having some nasty side effects.

Within the Canadian context, the insensitivity of the "big business" mentality is causing more than a few people to question some of the basic premises of our political and economic environment. Despite the fact that Canada’s big banks have been garnering huge and almost obscene profits for most of the past decade, they have concurrently been significantly downsizing their workforces, reducing personal services and closing down branches in small communities. Despite incontrovertible evidence as to the damage that the burning of fossil fuels is causing to our climate and environment, big business is strongly opposing the Canadian government’s efforts to implement the Kyoto accord. Rather than investing in ways and means to reduce pollution and extravagant consumption of natural resources, most companies would rather invest in propaganda and spin-doctoring aimed at countering any serious efforts at preserving and repairing our global eco-system. The disconnect between making a profit and corporate social responsibility is getting bigger and more serious.

It does not have to be so. Business need not and should not just be a soul-less mechanism for making money. As social animals, all structures that we create, be they political, economic, educational or religious, should serve the primary goal of making life on this planet more harmonious, pleasant, productive and beneficial to all. Above all, we should strive to develop win-win systems, so that a benefit to one individual does not come at the expense of another.

It is possible and there are good models of this even in the world of business. I am personally involved with one as a member of the Audit Committee of the largest Ukrainian credit union in Canada. Here is an example of a "business" that, though it is committed to being a profitable institution, dedicates equal priority to not only providing the best services to its member clients, but also to being an active promoter, benefactor and supporter of the community that it serves. Through scholarships, charitable donations and sponsorships, it provides vital support to cultural, educational and social structures of the Ukrainian community. Through special programs and efforts, it helps new immigrants from Ukraine establish themselves both personally and financially in Canada. Through investments in both time and money, it is helping to establish an effective and corruption-free credit union system in Ukraine. I know from personal experience, that the Board of Directors of this institution cares as much about the well-being of the Ukrainian community it serves as in making the bottom line, though it has consistently shown that both are possible.

A business can and should be a benefit to the community in which it operates, and not only in a commercial sense. It should be a responsible virtual "citizen" with a real commitment to preserving and improving the society and environment that gives it life and profit.