The poor in America: In need of help Some 15% of Americans (around 46.2m people) live below the poverty line, as Ms Hamilton does. You have to go back to the early 1960s—before Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programmes—to find a significantly higher rate. Many more, like Ms Dunham, have incomes above the poverty line but nevertheless cannot meet their families’ basic monthly needs, and there are signs that their number is growing.
Once upon a time the fates of these people weighed heavily on American politicians. Ronald Reagan boasted about helping the poor by freeing them from having to pay federal income tax. Jack Kemp, Bob Dole’s running-mate in 1996, sought to spearhead a “new war on poverty.” George W. Bush called “deep, persistent poverty…unworthy of our nation’s promise”.
No longer. Budgets are tight and the safety net is expensive. Mitt Romney famously said he was not “concerned about the very poor” because they have a safety net to take care of them. Mr Obama’s second-term plan mentioned poverty once, and on the trail he spoke gingerly of “those aspiring to the middle class”. “Poor” is a four-letter word.
posted by infini
on Nov 8, 2012 -
23 comments
CK Prahalad, Paul and Ruth McCracken
Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business in the University of Michigan
passed away on 16th April 2010 after a brief illness. His core
competency was strategic insight and vision and his
legacy to the world, the
concept of the
Bottom of the Pyramid, which changed
the way big
business viewed the teeming, huddled poverty stricken masses of the
former third world as
micro-innovators, micro-
producers and so, micro-consumers in
their own right. Among others,
his work inspired Ratan Tata as the
Nano turned conventional wisdom of automobile manufacturing on its head and
paved the way for Indian industry
to focus on the
high volume/low margin potential of their domestic
market. In
2009, he was named the "
world's most influential thinker" .
Though not
uncriticized for
his theories on the
Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, one can acknowledge his role in overcoming the "
tyranny of dominant logic" that the poor should
not simply be recipients of charity but
demanding customers in
challenging environments. RIP, sir. {
previously,
previously}
posted by infini
on Apr 17, 2010 -
14 comments
FabIndia becomes a Harvard Business Case study It's a
brand that does not advertise. It, in fact, celebrates the
success of its copycats. And now
Fabindia,
the craft-conscious enterprise, is a Harvard Business School (HBS) case study.
"Founded in 1960, Fabindia
makes the cut for being an
example of a corporation that does not just aim to do well, but does good too. "A strong mission can be both an opportunity and a constraint on the growth of a firm,"
points out Dr Khaire. However, the private retailer's
unique value proposition has not come in the way of it being
recognised as big brand today. And this in spite of the fact that Fabindia
has never advertised, points out Dr Khaire."
posted by infini
on Apr 15, 2007 -
8 comments
