Leid Stories - 11/29/13

’Tis the Season for . . . A Kinder, Gentler Capitalism?

 

As sales calendars go, we’re officially in the holiday season, the time of year when U.S. consumer spending is prodded – by custom and huge advertising budgets -- to its peak. The holiday season accounts for between 20 percent and 40 percent of retailers’ annual sales.

Despite the downturn in the economy, the National Retail Federation is predicting that holiday sales will grow by 3.9 percent this year, to $602.1 billion. Human misery, but corporate profits.

Leid Stories ponders the theory by Raj Sisodia, a professor of global business, that capitalism can have a heart; it can be a win-win proposition. In fact, he says, several leading companies are proof that “conscious capitalism” works to the benefit of everyone.