Things that matter

The Trump administration's 2017 travel ban against the seven Muslim-majority nations was a shocking event in many ways. Besides the widespread public outrage, the overwhelming response by the business leaders against the ban was commendable. It was not a singular instance when profit-making and shareholder's value-maximizing companies went out of their way to take a stand. Over the past two decades, there are several instances where the heads of the companies have strongly represented their stance on a political or social issue. However, the situation was drastically different if we look further into history. Traditionally, companies have seen themselves as profit-makers. Their sole purpose of existence has been to maximize value for their shareholders. If they spoke their minds, they risked alienating their customers having differing views and opinions and invited a negative impact on their topline and bottom-line. As such, businesses have conventionally tried to mai...

Gender Equality The sustainable development goal SDG 5 addresses gender inequality. This goal aims to eliminate discrimination against women in both public and private spheres. It also aims to provide equal rights to women in terms of economic resources and undertake reforms for the same. We chose to discuss this goal because achieving this goal is crucial for the world to become not just socially responsible but also economically responsible as well. About half of the population consists of women, and the percentage of women in the workforce is whimsically low. Ignoring these facts will be the biggest mistake we’ll make. Hence we tried to see this area in terms of the impact it has on gender inequality with some personal examples, proceeds which some countries/companies have achieved and their impact, and the steps which can be taken to improve the situation. We were also personally attached to this issue because of a few incidences that we experienced in the past and a few t...