Sustainable Enterprise in a Capitalist Economy and Society - Coursework Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tutor :xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Title : Is sustainable enterprise an impossible dream in a capitalist economy and society? Institution : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date :xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx @ 2012 Is sustainable enterprise an impossible dream in a capitalist economy and society? Introduction Sustainable enterprise is a kind of enterprise that lacks any negative impacts on communities, local environment, the economy or society. Such an enterprise normally has human rights and progressive environmental policies. Capitalism on the other hand is a system in which a few people privately on the means of production where they exploit the majority to work and produce goods for them to gain and maximize their profit. The workers are paid cheaply (Buckley, Salazar, Henriques 2009, 35). Sustainable enterprise is an impossible dream in a capitalist economy and society because of several reasons. Capitalism is based on profit maximization for the few capitalists at the expense of the environment, the society, the community and the entire society. Green enterprise seeks to achieve the protection of the society and the environment and therefore it is hard for it to succeed since the world has been ruled by capitalism for along time. Overturning the norm is not easy since the world is in the hands of the powerful exploitative capitalist system. This essay seeks to examine the possibility of sustainable enterprise being achieved in a capitalist economy and society. Sustainable enterprise and capitalism An enterprise qualifies to be sustainable if it incorporates sustainability principles into all of its business decisions. Such an enterprise should supply to the market services and products that are environmentally friendly and those that can replace the people’s demand for non green services and products. The enterprise takes part in green activities to the extend that all the products, processes, and activities of manufacturing activities maintain profit but address current concerns on the environment. This kind of organization must meet the needs of this generation but not compromise those of prosperity (Rainey 2006, 67). Capitalism on the other hand is seen as a social system that is in existence in every country in the world. Within capitalism the means for goods production and distribution including land, technology, factories and transport systems among others are in the hands of a few people. This small minority group is known as the capitalist class. The working class which is normally the majority sells their ability for work to the capitalists in order to earn a salary or wage. The workers are paid to make services and goods that are sold off to earn profit. Capitalists gain these profits since they make more money by selling what the working class produces than the cost of the workers on the labor market. The capitalists exploit the working class in this manner. Capitalism is therefore based on exploitation to make profit which supports the capitalists and part of it is also re-invested to accumulate more wealth (Stuart 2010, 78). By exploiting the working class, the capitalists are able to make as much profit as possible part of which they reinvest to increase the volume of their business. Since capitalism is based on the exploitation of the majority workers it is not wise to think that it can accommodate sustainable enterprise. Sustainable enterprise is driven by the need to eliminate negative impact to the society, economy and community (Rainey 2006, 87). Contrary to this capitalism exploits the society, community and maintains the economy into the hands of a few people who have the money. The environment that is created by capitalism in the entire world is very hostile to sustainable enterprises. Since capitalists are well established and have taken control of the world economy, they can be ready fight and bring down any attempts to establish sustainable enterprises. Sustainable enterprise is designed to make profit but this is not the main motive of doing business. What drives the enterprise is to benefit the environment and humanity. With this in mind, we can see that it can be hard for this type of business to thrive in a capitalistic economy since it will not make as much profit as the capitalists do. Consequently, competing with them to control the economy may be an uphill task. The expansion of the sustainable businesses will be very slow because of the low profit margins. This will make them to be outpaced by the capitalists in business growth. Power would therefore remain in the hands of the capitalists who will then go ahead to suffocate sustainable enterprises at will (Ingham 2008, 103).Capitalism is based on production of services and goods for profit making and not for the satisfaction of the needs of the society. Products and services produced in capitalism must get buyers but this only happens in the line of profit making so that the producer ends up with more money than what was invested originally. Production is not started by what the consumer is ready to pay for in order to satisfy his needs but by that which the capitalists have calculated to be able to fetch a profit. When these goods are produced they can satisfy the needs of people but if those people can’t afford enough money their needs will not be met. The motive of making profit does not result from the greed of the capitalists alone. They are under pressure to make as much profit as possible so that their position and investment is not lost. Competition between capitalists makes them to reinvest a lot of their profits so that they can keep their methods and means of production updated (Reisman 1996, 32). The motive of profit making that drives the capitalists makes them not to consider the creation of any societal, community or environmental benefits as would be expected in the sustainable enterprise. It is not possible for capitalists to dedicate their production of goods and services to environmental conservation or for the benefit of the community. This is so because trying to benefit the society will mean that they compromise on their profit making which will mean that they are edged out of business. Capitalism thrives on profit making and sacrificing the profit for anything else means that there is will be no money to reinvest (Hawken, Lovins, Lovins 210). A very prominent element of capitalism is consumerism. These two are now global because capitalists are looking for new markets for their products and people get tempted by what consumption has to offer in terms of benefits and rewards. In fact, consumerism is currently being used as an indicator for prosperous and advancing economies. The world’s strongest economies such as those in the west and parts of Asia are marked by consumerism (Hawken et al 2010, 65). Consumerism is important for the growth of these economies because it ensures the consumption of the goods produced in masses so that more can be produced to make bigger profits for more production. This cycle makes the economy of a country to grow at a very first rate. Consumerism is almost gripping the entire world. Consumerism therefore promotes capitalism. In a situation of capitalism and consumerism, both those that do the production and the consumers care less about the negative impacts to the society and environment (Reisman 1996, 241). Mass consumption results in heavy production of wastes hence environmental degradation. It also results in poor eating habits and lifestyles that promote many diseases. Mass production thrives on environmental degradation through careless and excessive resource exploitation. Consumerism therefore, does the opposite of sustainable business. Since the world is continually falling within the grip of consumerism sustainable enterprise is not possible because it will not produce the amount and type of goods needed to sustain a world or society that is used to consumerism. Sustainable enterprise will abstain from depletion of resources and overemphasis on profit making and therefore the production will be low compared to what the capitalistic society demands (Stuart 2007, 94). It is not accurate to claim that sustainable enterprise can operate in a capitalist environment because both the capitalists and the working class are used to capitalism. When the society is used to a particular system and has been engrossed in it the possibility to accept and embrace change is very minimal. Capitalists benefit from capitalism by exploiting the working class. However it is amazing to observe that the working class may not be willing to replace the system that exploits them with something strange that they are not used to regardless of the benefits. In a capitalistic system, individuals from the exploited working class strive to get rich and join the capitalists so that they can further the course (Roberts 1995, 156). They also benefit from capitalism because of the mass production of goods which ensures that the supply is high and prices are maintained at affordable rates. Although the working class is being exploited, they find it safe because they at least have a source of livelihood guaranteed by the capitalist system. These and may other reasons would ensure that the working class supports the capitalists when it comes to the contest between capitalism and sustainable enterprise. Sustainable enterprise as much as it may aim at benefiting the society and environment, it may not match capitalism since it’s capacity for production of goods would be regulated, profits made would be low and therefore fewer people would get jobs. Many people would not support its survival because of these shortcomings (Roberts 1995, 160). Some people support the claim that sustainable enterprise is possible in capitalism. They argue that since that since the economies of many countries have been run by capitalists for along time, people have seen the danger of capitalism, the depletion of resources, exploitation of workers and other ills and that they are willing to shift to something better. This school of thought is faulty because the economic powers of the world have been built by capitalism and they are the ones that control the global economy. They have the power to determine what direction the global economy should take. Since they thrive on capitalism, it is very unlikely that they can support the rise of sustainable enterprises which operate in direct opposition to capitalism (Schiffman 2011, 12). Major economies and multinational companies originating in these economies thrive on exploiting weaker economies of the world. This is what makes them prosperous. How then does one abandon that which gives him a livelihood to try something that is not as promising as the one he is forsaking? Proponents of sustainable enterprise also say that its survival under capitalism is possible because world capitalism is collapsing and that as it grows weak, other systems can work. Their argument is based on the fact that capitalism at the moment is faced with several crises including profitability crisis, resource crisis, ecological crisis, imperial crisis and legitimacy crisis. Indeed if it was getting weaker then sustainable enterprise would thrive under it and possibly help to bring it down in the future. However, in their claims, these people tend to overlook certain things. If capitalism has been affected by issues such as those related to resources, ecology and profitability and no business can thrive without dealing with these issues then sustainable enterprise must have to content with similar problems. Because there is massive resource depletion it must face the shortage of raw materials hence low production and no satisfaction of the needs of the market (Clayton, Aiken 2012, 39). Conclusion This essay has examined the possibility of sustainable enterprise operating in a capitalist economy or society. It emerged that it is not possible for this to happen because of a number of reasons. Capitalists benefit from capitalism and therefore they would fight sustainable enterprise. The working class would support the capitalists because they benefit from the system by getting jobs and abundant supply of goods and services. People are used to capitalism and therefore embracing sustainable enterprise would not be easy. Those who claim that it is possible for sustainable enterprise to thrive under capitalism say that capitalism is collapsing and that people are tired with capitalism and they need a change. They are wrong at this because people resist change and the problems that are causing the weakening of capitalism are bound to affect sustainable enterprise as well. It therefore remains that sustainable enterprise cannot survive in a capitalist society. Bibliography Buckley G., Salazar J. X., Henriques M. (2009). The promotion of sustainable enterprises. ILO Clayton T.D, Aiken L. (2012). 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