A lovely thread over at SpeakUp regarding public perception of the big brands (Microsoft, Coke, Nike, etc). It started with a question about Believing the Good in Brands , but after the initial post, quickly zeroed in on what I see as the core problem: Companies that make a lot of money constantly have to defend their brands because we view a noticable portion of their business practices with suspicion. But I cannot say it better than Matt Waggner did:
I think there’s a difference between a profit motive and having a culture of wealth-accumulation: our “robber barons” of old, the Rockefellers and Gettys of the world, at least saw schools, museums, libraries, parks, and the like as part of their legacy, but now, precious few companies or investors are willing to disadvantage themselves by depleting their liquid assets. When you ask “what company in their position *wouldn’t* act like Microsoft,” the answer is that you don’t get to be in that position without acting like a tool.
Well, that is awfully simplistic – there are some decent, and extremely wealthy, capitalists around, like Warren Buffett (whose argues for lower CEO pay: he earns $100K a year), George Soros (who promotes open societies and democracy in environments where he is unlikely to make any money), and James Sinegal (the CostCo CEO who enforces a “maximum profit %” in his stores, runs a union shop, and still outsells Sams Club). In fairness, I think we should look for these people, and support them where we can. If someone wants to call Microsoft or Starbucks out for destroying yet another company with their nonstop expansion, or Disney for their horrendous intellectual property practices, then fine: there’s so much bullshit now that if anyone’s noticed one company in specific, then they’re probably pretty damn bad.
There are dozens of little decisions that show a company’s character: I think the biggest influence on the relentless pursuit of the “bottom line” is the way publicly traded companies promote short-term growth over long-term growth. Stock options, quarterly reports, these things promote a “fast return” over a particular set of values, and, well, it shows in the great majority of US companies today. Those old guys are a lost breed, I guess.
Great stuff.
