Many have had the misfortune of hearing me talk adnauseam about economics and how our purchase decisions influence investment. I have often talked about how vital it is that society addresses not only the investment side of the equation, however the demand side too. Without integrating Corporate Behavior/Social Responsibility data into the shopping and purchasing experience people will simply consider product quality and price (generally). Thus a low cost, moderate quality product will typically generate a healthy return to all within its supply chain. This return will help shape equity value or investment performance of the stock. And this performance will shape how the stock attracts investors. Therefore, if investment remains isolated from market demand -companies that produce purely low cost goods without regard for sustainability, people or resources will benefit by attracting greater equity value and access to capital for expansion.
By guiding demand with trusted data we will help redirect spending toward businesses that are considering a balance between people, planet and profit. This causes the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility to be a competitive factor in sales, thus connecting it to the profit motive (which is the beating heart of all business.) As such the emerging social values shopping or commerce segment will yield two vital elements to the economy.
* More Socially Aware, Informed Consumers -which are then predisposed to Socially Responsible Investment and
* Greater equity value for companies that are evolving and acting more responsibly.
This relationship was most recently documented in Reuters which I saw in YAHOO! News, excerpted below -
Alternative energy attracting more investors
( http://news.yahoo.com/... )
By Lisa Haarlander Mon Mar 20, 11:04 PM ET
A perfect storm of high energy prices, government subsidies and renewed interest from Wall Street is boosting investment in wind, solar and other alternative energy projects, said fund managers and other experts on Monday at a conference on renewable energy.
"This is the best time to think about energy technology whether you're a large equity fund, trying to get money for a company you're running or to make returns in the stock market," said Philip Deutch, managing partner of NGP Energy Technology Partners, a $150 million private equity investment fund.
Well known investors such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the Carlyle Group and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. have all made recent investments in wind and solar power, Deutch told about 75 people attending the conference in Chicago sponsored by Platts, an energy industry publication.
End of Excerpt.
In this case business is acting in front of anticipated consumer demand. Here, prices for finite oil energy are beginning to shift the market. While prices and quality will always play a major role within the free market, in time, the type of corporate behavior that we perpetuate with our product purchases will begin to have at very least a secondary influence and social values led commerce will have a positive and synergistic impact to access to capital and socially responsible investment.
About the Author Mr. Polisner founded alonovo.com in March of 2005. He has been working in most aspects of Information Technology since 1981 and was an early commercial adopter of the UNIX operating system. Prior to founding alonovo.com earlier this year, George was a Director at Oracle Corporation, and formed the technology and infrastructure for the Global Innovation and Quality group within the On Demand business unit for Oracle. Prior to that role he ran the Southwest Performance Architecture team. He is a frequent contributor to newspapers regarding political and economic policy and often appears as a guest on radio programs. In fact, when it comes to alonovo.com, it's pretty difficult to get him to stop talking.
