Creative Capitalism: A Conversation with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Other Economic Leaders: A conversation with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Other economoc Leader [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

In 2008 Bill Gates advocated that big corporations integrate doing good into their way of doing business. "Creative Capitalism" begins with that proposal, and follows with a number of individual comments, both pro and con.

Gates points out that capitalism harnesses self-interest in helpful and sustainable ways, but only on behalf of those who can pay. Profits are not always possible when business tries to serve the very poor. Thus, there needs to be another market-based incentive - recognition.

Recognition enhances a company's reputation and appeals to customers; it also attracts good people to the organization.

Potential Creative Capitalism Mechanisms: Tiered pricing (eg. for vaccines used in both the developed and third world) is one existing mechanism. Priority for approval reviews of a for-profit drug can be offered to companies that also develop a new drug for a neglected disease such as malaria.

Warren Buffett, normally a strong Gates supporter, however, had other perspectives. He pointed out that emotional public reactions can be a problem - eg. donations to pro-choice efforts. Further, corporations donating a specified percentage of profits/revenues to "cause X" are only successful in the short run, though they do raise awareness.

Michael Kinsley raises other problems. Eg. giving priority in new drug approval reviews begs the question of "Why the delay to start with?" Perhaps it is due to important cautionary concerns; or, it simply may reflect a need for an improved review process or the need for greater funding. Then there's the manipulation potential - eg. ExxonMobil spent 3X as much publicizing its support for Masterpiece Theater as it did for the actual support.

Others asserted that Gates' ideal only works where there are sustainable (protected) profits - eg. new product, monopoly, etc.; that there aren't that many products with a unique demand in Third-World vs. developed countries (probably literally true, though the former's emphasis on extremely low-cost can also be construed as constituting unique products); that business already has an incentive to help the poor via seeking out low-cost producers (eg. China); that "Corporate Social Responsibility" people are typically woolly-headed and ineffectual; that foreign charity can reduce the pressure for good government in poor countries; and that businesses should instead stop trying to circumvent markets working well via tariffs, quotas, subsidies, etc.

Larry Summers' also had an interesting insight. Wanting to harness the profit motive to meet the social objective of increased home-ownership, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were employed. The illusion that they were doing virtuous work made it impossible to build a political case for serious regulation. On the other hand, market discipline as nearly non-existent given the perception that their debt was government-backed. Meanwhile, complaints of social failures were met by claims of a need to perform for shareholders. Thus, accountability for both objectives was largely lost.

January 24, 2008 - The World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland. A speech by Bill Gates, one of the most successful entrepreneur & philanthropist created a whirl wind in the business circles. Gates proposed a new idea of making capitalism work for the poor and needy in the developing world. He coined the term "Creative Capitalism". This book is a compilation of discussions, blogs, critics by 43 well known successful business leaders, economists etc around the topic. Micheal Kinsley did a pretty good job in compiling 300+ pages with thought provoking ideas, approaches to Creative Capitalism. Many of you may have seen Gates speech on youtube or read the transcription in Microsoft website. But, after reading this entire book, you will have a complete knowledge, different thinking and a birds eye view of this topic. About the pros and cons of what was proposed by Bill Gates. Many of the business leaders do not agree with his idea of Creative Capitalism (with valid statistics and business ethics). Some, do agree with Bill Gates.

Here is the cheat sheet of Creative Capitalism:
1. Markets respond only to "demand", not to "need".
2. The world is getting better, but not fast enough and not for everyone. For ex., Climate change will impose the worst effect on those least responsible for it.
3. In a system of pure capitalism, the incentive to serve people rises as their wealth rises and falls as their wealth falls. This needs to be changed so that there is an incentive to serve poor people too.
4. A revised capitalist system would both make a profit and improve the lives of the have-nots.
5. Creative Capitalism is a system where incentives for both profit and recognition motivate both self-interest and caring for others.
6. Under Creative Capitalism governments, businesses and non-profits works together.
7. Some real world scenarios are : Corporations donating money or products. Tiered pricing by drug companies for vaccines against diseases affecting third world. Help poor world business do business in developed world. The Bono RED campaign model.
8. Corporations should allow "top innovators" to spend part of their times on issues facing people too poor to be customers. This "takes the brainpower that makes life better for the richest, and dedicates it to improving the lives of everyone else".

The book starts with the conversation with Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and author Micheal Kinsley. They discuss in detail about all the possibilities of making this concept to the real world. To my perception, Warren Buffet is much more experienced and knows what he puts forth on the table. Bill Gates is very impatient and wants to change the world very fast. Just like switching on a PC and start working. Warren Buffet suggests to tax 3% from the corporation and let a neutral body consisting of Government officials, Business leaders and NGO manage the fund to make the world a better place for everyone.

But Gates proposes a different approach, where the businesses using its technology & resources get into the field of philanthropy directly. He urges the businesses to explore the unexploited business opportunities available in the sub-saharan African countries and thereby improving the lives of the less privileged people. He urges the corporations to donate huge amounts of money, resources or employees time for those who cannot afford it. What would the businesses get in return?. Recognition as do-gooders which will improve the company's reputation and in turn improves the profits. The ultimate aim is again profit maximization. But, he does not mention who has to make the decision to decide the charitable cause. The corporate managers or the share holders or the stake holders?. There are a lot of practical complications around this. This could be an easy option for the companies that are about to go to IPO.

Hundreds of pages discussing about each and every specific good and bad things in Gates speech. How is it different from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)?. Why do we need a different form of capitalism?. etc. I feel good about Bill Gates intention to eradicate poverty in the world through Creative Capitalism. But just the intention is not enough. A complete real world implementation plan is needed to make that a reality. Apart from the speech made at Davos, what else has been done in the past three years?. Where are we in this idea?. What Gates has done other than making a speech?.

We need more people like Gates to come together and persist in the idea, so that it becomes a goal of every corporation in this world. I would suggest everyone interested in business or has that entrepreneurial instincts to read this book. It will prepare you to help others and at the same time, survive the competition.

This was an easy read with short readable chapters. The discourse was smart and witty and the contributors consist of some of the most brilliant minds of our time. This was a great book to read for business people, entrepreneurs, and politicos. I truly enjoyed the dialogue, the format, and the subject matter, and it gave me a lot to think about.