Lost ethics

Most governments around the world encourage their citizens for entrepreneurships. Governments have always been trying to promote big businesses, and that is rational too by their point of stand. What do you think is the impact of entrepreneurship in an economy? If you asked this question to an economist you would get the answer that entrepreneurship being an accumulation of production and supply, tends to increase the economies of scale. In simple words this means that when you’re producing in large quantities, due to the unchanging nature of the fixed costs involved in the production process, the cost per unit of production will decrease, and so the marginal profit is increased.

If you asked this same question to a government official, he might tell you that it increases the employment opportunities for the poor and increase the economic strength of the country by increasing the productivity. And by the way entrepreneurs tend to pay a lot more taxes than individuals, so the government will have more money to pay for the development expenses.

Entrepreneur themselves will focus on the point that they are serving the community by producing a new product that was not yet available or otherwise available at a higher price and they are selling it cheaper.

All the arguments are true, or at least from the perspective of the ones who are arguing. I however want to represent in my argument the ones who are neither educated enough to give their arguments, nor will be heard even if they had something to say.

An Indian philosopher and politician Mahatma Gandhi focused in his speeches over the essence of ethics in business and entrepreneurship. He also showed the examples of ideal rulers of ancient (most likely mythical) India. The ethical attitude that whatever an organization has earned is derived from the community. The organization uses the resources of the community (natural, human or financial) and from them it derives its profit and accumulates the wealth. So, everything an organization has, the organization owns it to the community. So, the organization needs to pay back its debt to the community in cash or kind. This ethical standard is also well known in wests.

But, that’s it the standard is only well known, and not applied anywhere. Some, companies do promote the public welfare in its environments. But they never possess an intention to actually promote the well-being of their surroundings. Generally such acts of welfare are intended to serve as goodwill for the organization. They only seek good public image while contributing thus. So, we can establish that such acts are nothing but a hoax.

I agree with the economist in his view that the entrepreneurship will increase the economies of scale.But won’t it also create a product with a strong bargaining power. If the entrepreneurship was not so formed, the workers involved would have been the competitors of each other and so the competition to sell their service or product might surely have decreased the price of that particular product.

The government official in favor of entrepreneurship is also not wrong. But what of the people who wanted to use their local resources and do something on their own. The newly established organization in their community sentenced them for a life time of salary based labour, where any personal progress is completely out of question. And to the entrepreneurs I just want to say that remember that you’re using the natural resources that was not your own to make a profit that you’ll not distribute. The water resources, and other resources, that you’re using basically belongs to the community. You’ve no right to make a product out of them and then sell it to their original owners, the community where the resources basically belonged.