Voluntary Capital and Labour for Business

How do you compete against a private-sector firm that has virtually free capital or labour at its disposal? Your only realistic option is to emulate it, or get ahead before competitive advantage is lost forever.

We are talking about a form of exploitation. In many cases, the volunteers don’t even realise they are giving. Modern corporations are using technology-based innovation to capture people’s voluntary contributions and, in the process, are dramatically changing their industries. Read more →

Why companies need to connect with community

In the world I come from, it would be with some trepidation that you would put the words company and community in the same sentence. During my extensive career as a financial researcher and portfolio manager in the investment management industry, it became clear to me that there were two camps: those who saw profit generation by companies to be pursued at all costs; and those who saw the need for some sort of harmony with community. Needless to say, the numbers were stacked heavily in ranks of the former; to espouse the latter could have been a career limiting move. Read more →