Okay, one of the things that is driving me batty about this debate is the narrow concept being espoused as to what a for-profit business is. Who says that for-profits are all geared toward growth? Why is it assumed that they have products? Aren't non-profits generally more analogous to service-oriented businesses like law firms and accounting services, where it is more about assisting people in trying circumstances, only, in their case, in order to make money? In those industries, there are many mid to small businesses who take great pride in the quality of their services and their reputations; and many of them are not growth-oriented. Non-profits should not try to be Wal-Mart - not even retail-based social enterprises like the one I used to work at. But they should value people and process management, as well as business planning and investment, as key strategies toward providing quality services. Many for-profits do this very well, and have valuable le
ssons to teach our industry.
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Peter Campbell
http://techcafeteria.com
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>>The rub is of course that the very people who use that mantra fail to understand it. If a business does not have the income it needs, then it does one of a few things, it raises the price, it lowers the cost of production, or it launches a new product and gets people to pay for that. Better yet it does all three. Whatever the business, the goal is to grow bigger and earn more.>>
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