I wonder if we as Human beings are really that intelligent. As I look around myself all that I see is a support system that we have built around us, an artificial world in defiance to nature and evolution. Every organism in this world has adapted itself in line with the natural way this planet functions, except for human beings. I wondered in awe when I watched Attenborough(hope this is the right spelling :-) present snakes as one of the highly adaptive species. Snakes have adapted themselves to the land, sea, air(yes, few glide from tree to tree). Snakes are found in caves, deserts, mountains, in deep seas and they've adapted themselves wonderfully to live in accordance to the environment that they've chosen. Snakes which live in deep oceans, have gills and their tails are modified into pedals to swim. When I marvelled at the adaptability of the snakes I realized that they're not as intelligent as we are but they are definitely wise. They don't know about satellites or submarines or space shuttles, they don't run multi national companies or financial institutions but they have been living for millions of years in this planet without destroying it. But we as the self proclaimed intelligent species have developed into a species that is trying to destroy the only home that we have, the earth. We launch satellites trying to explore life away from earth but have we thought about preserving the life in this earth? Its so stupid to look for life away from earth and spending millions on such quests when our survival in this planet is threatened by our inventions, climate change and global warming. As agent smith says to morpheus in Matrix, we humans are a parasite that feeds on planet earth, we are not trying to preserve it but we are trying to deplete it and move on.
Yes, we humans may be Intelligent, but we are definitely not wise.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Business and social responsibility
There is a general perception that business and social responsibility don't go along with each other. When I think of it, there are several questions that prop up in my mind. Should business plans and business models have morality, like human beings are supposed to have? Can we say that Pepsi, even though a profitable business, has no morality because all the profit it musters is by selling a carbonated drink that has no proven health or nutritional benefits to its customers? In fact, drinking Pepsi will give consumers bad teeth and tossed up digestive cycles. I would say yes, Pepsi as a company has no moral responsibility. Its products are just pushed to consumers through bulk production, combined sales with other junk food such as pizzas and Pepsi markets itself through celebrities in mindless campaigns which ultimately misleads its consumers, mostly teens and youngsters into more consumption.
Pepsi doesn't force consumers but just sells. Obviously, the consumer wants Pepsi otherwise there is no logical explanation for the Pepsi sales. Liquor and tobacco sales fall under the plank but the sales of liquor and tobacco don't affect a wide range of consumers as Pepsi does. For instance, in a given population of 100, there can be 50 who smoke, and this 50 would be mostly adults. There can be 50 who drink, mostly adults again. But in a population of 100, almost 80 would drink Pepsi and this comprises of children and adults. What makes it worse is that Pepsi unlike tobacco and Liquor alters the food consumption habit of the population, driving them towards unhealthy food habits like regular consumption of fast food and junk food.
Pepsi as a company that sells carbonated drinks and fried foods has its fair share in causing Obesity, a growing problem among urban dwellers in most parts of this world. So having said all this I wonder about Pepsi's view point about business sustainability. I guess, for any business the well-being of its customer is its prime concern, so when the well-being of Pepsi's consumers is jeopardized by consumption of its own products, how does Pepsi view this? I understand that recently, they've ventured into the fruit juice selling business. Are they trying to redeem themselves by at last selling something that their customer can find some value in? Again, I wonder at the notion of corporate social responsibility of companies like Pepsi. I feel that it would be a joke if Pepsi contributes towards humanitarian causes from the money they've got by running a business that has no morality.
Pepsi doesn't force consumers but just sells. Obviously, the consumer wants Pepsi otherwise there is no logical explanation for the Pepsi sales. Liquor and tobacco sales fall under the plank but the sales of liquor and tobacco don't affect a wide range of consumers as Pepsi does. For instance, in a given population of 100, there can be 50 who smoke, and this 50 would be mostly adults. There can be 50 who drink, mostly adults again. But in a population of 100, almost 80 would drink Pepsi and this comprises of children and adults. What makes it worse is that Pepsi unlike tobacco and Liquor alters the food consumption habit of the population, driving them towards unhealthy food habits like regular consumption of fast food and junk food.
Pepsi as a company that sells carbonated drinks and fried foods has its fair share in causing Obesity, a growing problem among urban dwellers in most parts of this world. So having said all this I wonder about Pepsi's view point about business sustainability. I guess, for any business the well-being of its customer is its prime concern, so when the well-being of Pepsi's consumers is jeopardized by consumption of its own products, how does Pepsi view this? I understand that recently, they've ventured into the fruit juice selling business. Are they trying to redeem themselves by at last selling something that their customer can find some value in? Again, I wonder at the notion of corporate social responsibility of companies like Pepsi. I feel that it would be a joke if Pepsi contributes towards humanitarian causes from the money they've got by running a business that has no morality.
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