Tomorrow is Christmas Day, which encapsulates a time of the year when several businesses are more active than usual. In fact, I was very surprised to learn that for some businesses as much as 60 per cent of their turnover is generated during this time. However, this is also a time when maybe we need to look at business from a different perspective. It is a time of giving, but that giving should not be restricted to individuals. Businesses thrive thanks to the society in which they operate and they also need to ask what they are giving back to society.
They need to do this not so much in terms of philanthropic activities, but more in terms of their objectives, their policies, how they are operating, their behaviour and the values they portray. My point of departure is a statement made by Pope Benedict XVI at the annual convention of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation. He had said that finance should be subordinated to politics and that every activity should be guided by ethics. Since politics, in its proper meaning, refers to governance of society, then business is to be subordinated to the needs of society.
Taking this argument further, we need to accept that every economic decision implies an ethical choice as an integral part of it, and that each economic decision (be it by the state, be it by private individuals or businesses) needs to be subordinated to the ethical choice. To my mind, it is these broad issues that should be brought to the forefront at a time like Christmas, as they reflect the values of the business sector. Donations to charity at Christmastime have little meaning if during the rest of the year we make choices that do not seek to pursue the common good or do not promote the development of the whole person.
In this regard, Pope Benedict XVI, in a recent speech, made reference to the loss of values and sense of ethics that we are experiencing today. He claimed that, when this had happened, it had led to the destruction of the Roman Empire as its legal, political and economic structures stopped functioning. We are experiencing this same risk today. It may be easy for the business sector to put the blame on politicians for the breakdown of law and order and for a loss of values. However, it is also in the interests of the business sector and it is its responsibility to act ethically and to uphold values that promote the common good.
One may ask what this would mean in concrete terms. Two examples will say it all. I have had business people telling me that the only loyalty they believe in is loyalty to the bottom line. Is this really the only sense of loyalty that the business sector can offer to society? I have also encountered employers who seem to gauge their ability to lead their business by their ability or otherwise to dismiss people from their job. Again, I would ask if this makes sense as surely leading a business does not mean destroying people’s lives.
Do we really want to measure business success just by looking at profit or by how many persons were dismissed? And yet such employers will feel that they are fulfilling their responsibility towards society by signing off a cheque at Christmastime for some charitable cause. In my first contribution this year, way back in January, I had augured that 2010 would be “the year of working ethically”. Has this happened?
For the business sector, Christmas is also a time for giving, just like it is for everyone else. However, it is not enough to give money to a philanthropic cause. That just helps us stop having a tummy ache whenever we see images of the poor in Africa or the underprivileged in Malta. Giving should also mean setting the right example to the rest of society.
A blessed Christmas to all.