When to be kind is beneficial

In general, to be kind always profitable. And the nuances are well described in the incredibly interesting Theory of Games , which operates with them mathematically. If you move away from numbers and turn to practice, you can see that social orientation can be an effective strategy. In my article I will try to prove why this is so. Who cares - I ask under the cat.

The main enemy of any business is time. This is the harshest test: the chosen idea, strategy, personal qualities, and much more. And long-term planning is a difficult thing, especially in a country where everything rises on its head at intervals of 20-30 years. But there is a factor that can provide a relative “margin of safety” and give a good starting point - this is a social focus, which is unfairly thought about at the last moment. And very vain.

When the state is lazy

In the US and Europe, charity has been put on the conveyor. Especially in the USA. Back in the 18th century, there they thought that the state has more interesting things to do than to engage in its own social policy. And they put this thankless task on the shoulders of the public: legislation that allows you to deduct from taxes the amount spent on charity, support for the volunteer movement, competent propaganda (including the Church) created all the conditions for the development of charity. And its scale was such that already in the 19th century surprised Europeans:

“No country can surpass, and even, perhaps, compare with the United States in charity affairs. Not only are the amounts collected for various philanthropic goals larger than in any European country, but the size of the personal contribution of Americans to charity seems to a European superior to anything that he saw at home ”

a source

The culture of philanthropy created in the USA entailed the emergence of a whole industry: in 2015, donations from individuals, foundations and corporations in the United States amounted to $ 373 billion. And these are not only numbers, but also the infrastructure for the use of this money.

When corporations feel sorry for money

Quantitative growth eventually grew into a qualitative one: somewhere in the 70s of the 20th century, intelligent people began to think not only about where to spend, but how. The question arose: why should anyone give money if they can be spent with the same effect?
In the 70s of the 20th century, the concept of corporate social responsibility begins to develop: an orientation toward receiving net profit without taking into account social influence becomes a bad tone and an indicator of inefficiency. Technological corporations, whose success is based on the personal qualities of their employees, are also beginning to gain weight and influence: their social projects become role models.

Cinema at INFOSYS Mysore Training Campus

Here is an example of Indian Infosys . In the early 80s in India, there were two problems that could not be tolerated: this is an extremely low standard of living and the terrible quality of the code of the then programs. The model they chose: "to educate a bunch of people in their homeland >> something to do in the West >> to repeat the profit" justified itself. The emphasis on education (the largest corporate training center in the world , active charitable work in this area, support for OpenSourse projects) turned Infosys, based on $ 200, into a giant with a total capitalization of $ 40 billion.

When everyone needs a profit

In the 1990s, the following legitimate question arises: why spend money at all where you can make a profit with the same social effect?
And this controversial question is answered positively: the concepts of social entrepreneurship , investment investment , social investment are formed, the necessary tools are created, for example, social bonds . Thus, another promising market appeared in the world, which has a number of advantages.

Then social orientation is ...

Good pr

More precisely, a separate and fairly effective direction: social marketing , which involves tying a brand to social ideas. Even minor elements create a favorable information background for the product, greatly facilitating its promotion. This was even noted by the creators of Dilbert ( one and two times ). On the other hand, ignoring social moments can give unpleasant results: for example, you can create several necessary and popular products, but still at the most inappropriate moments you will be reminded of throwing money out of the St. Petersburg office window.

It has a positive effect on HR.

In the age of information technology, reputation becomes decisive not only for people, but also for companies, especially in IT, where success is determined by the intellectual and cultural level of employees. In theory, with the help of parties with strippers, you can create a certain image of the company and at the expense of it to entice professionals, but in the long run, this invariably leads to lagging behind competitors. Toward the end, even Hugh Hefner did not care, and he was good at it.

This is a contribution to its own resource base.

The field of education is Klondike and Golkonda. Due to this, tech companies have an advantage over traditional ones: their resource is not nearly exhausted, but with the right approach it gives tangible bonuses. Therefore, the huge funds that it is customary to transfer to your Alma Mater are not sentimentality, but a long-term investment. And “ideological teaching” is an effective way to monitor, select and train personnel for themselves from the initial stage of preparation, ahead of competitors who prefer to whine how bad things are.

Entry into a huge growing market

According to JPMorgan estimates , by 2020 the amount of investment impact will be from 400 billion to 1 trillion dollars, and the profit from them will be in the range of 183 billion to 667 billion dollars.
If you look at numerous global startups competitions, then social projects are almost everywhere in the winners: social projects won at Asian Fintech Finals 2017 , Ayannah won, and JPMorgan held a separate competition for socially-oriented startups. Such a HYIP, as in Bitcoin, can’t be cut down here, but a good start can be achieved.

Current trend

Social problems are usually solved first. Ideas to protect themselves from the whole world have abandoned almost everything, so where internal problems have been successfully resolved, work is underway with less successful neighbors. The main directions are outlined by the UN sustainable development goals (by the way, there are 9 items on technology). And for the implementation of these goals allocate decent money. And sometimes simple and obvious solutions bring tangible results: for example, in Tanzania there is a mobile application that allows you to register the birth of children by SMS.

And when everyone does not care ...

The situation with charity in Russia is well described by Gilyarovsky :

Around the station it was forbidden to take alms - it was only allowed to bring it before the party departed to the transit prison and not to transfer it personally to the prisoners, but through the authorities. The Old Believers were especially offended by this:
- And why do the unfortunates find out who filed them? Who will they pray for?
And on the set days they piled on these two parts with alms, although the rest of Moscow continued to send as before to all the prisons. It got smelled cunning and took advantage.
Before the big holidays, to the great surprise of the authorities, the Lefortovo and Rogozhskaya units were overwhelmed with prisoners, and there were fights and scandals all over Moscow, and an incredible number of vagrants who delayed their residence mainly in Lefortovo and Rogozhskaya, where they were sent, were delayed with an escort for identification.
And along with them the wagons were handing alms, which were immediately distributed to the prisoners, changed them for vodka and were eaten.
After the holiday, all these criminals turned out to be either petty thieves, or just vagrants from Moscow bourgeoisers and artisans, who were sent home by identity card, and they dispersed, celebrating a hearty holiday at the expense of the “benefactors” who awaited hot prayers for their souls from these , thrown into prison by servants of the Antichrist. "

For a hundred years, the situation has been straightened out slightly: Russia ranks 127th in the world out of 145, according to the desire of capital for charity . Despite the mess, something even happens: miraculously, social projects are functioning and developing, there are examples of successful impact investments, open education projects are actively developing (I would have such opportunities at the age of 18 !!!). But for the most part it is the past, or even before last, a century.
The social direction is experiencing an incredible need for attention, money, professionals. And there, there is such a need, there is a field of activity for those who can earn money implement it. Especially when others are lazy, sorry for the money, you just need a profit or just do not care.