Confessions of a Disgruntled Business Major

As a business student who has discovered and grown to believe that business can be a powerful tool for enacting positive social change, I’m frustrated that my traditional business curriculum chooses to place no emphasis on this important potential.

If you ask me right now what I’m studying in college, I’ll tell you- business. But I always feel the need to explain myself. Maybe it is because I get the sense that business students have a reputation for 1. Only caring about money 2. Being sort of dumb 3. Being jerks. Maybe it is because I don’t necessarily disagree with those stereotypes. But at risk of sounding mildly overconfident, I’d like to think that I don’t fit into any of them. Still, my decision to study business in college has been a decision that has certainly changed the course of my life and my career.

I chose to study business- marketing to be specific- because I knew that I was going to be paying for college, and I knew that I had to be somewhat realistic. I figured I could study business, get myself some ~employable~ skills, and then use those skills to work for companies or organizations that aligned with my personal interests, like art, music, and culture. Still, I never really lost that part of me that would have loved to study anthropology or philosophy. I have always been very interested in learning about other cultures, and over time, this has evolved into an interest and concern for many of the problems that people in this world face.

Entering freshman year, I was certainly conflicted about my decision to study business, but I told myself I would make the best of it. And my second semester of that year, I stumbled into a class called “Global Social Entrepreneurship”. The entire course focused on how business can be used as a tool to solve societal problems, especially poverty. Throughout this course, I found myself realizing that I could actually be passionate…about business. While most of my business classes had been very cut and dry, reiterating over and over how business was all about the bottom line, this class actually made me realize that business does not always have to be a selfish pursuit for profit and power. There was an emphasis on teaching how business practices that place a high emphasis on valuing all stakeholders and are mission-driven can still be very successful. We talked about the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit that most social enterprises strive towards. And we studied a lot of different social enterprises in depth and learned about their successes and shortcomings.

I found myself realizing that I could actually be passionate…about business. While most of my business classes had been very cut and dry, reiterating over and over how business was all about the bottom line, this class actually made me realize that business does not always have to be a selfish pursuit for profit and power.

I could talk about my love for social entrepreneurship for a long time, but the point is this: I was inspired. And I was impassioned. And that fire that was lit inside of me caused me to take a closer look at my fellow business students. In my international business class that same semester, we held a lot of classes in a debate style. One debate was all about globalization and fair labor. People seemed to hold a lot of opinions about what was right and what was wrong, but nobody seemed to consider it problematic that a business would offshore all of its manufacturing to developing countries where they could keep workers in horrible working conditions at a very low cost. It’s just business, right? Then my professor briefly mentioned that some businesses are making a point to be sustainable and ethical, and can actually still be successful while doing so. “Social enterprise,” he called it. “It is becoming a more prominent sect of business,” he said.

I raised my hand. “Actually,” I said, “our school has a really great program for social enterprise.”

“Oh yeah?” he said, as he looked around at the class. “Is anyone else in the program?” I joined him in looking around, as not a single hand was raised. Except mine.

“It is a really great program. I definitely recommend at least taking the intro class,” I said, “even if it is just an elective.” And that was that.

Since then, I’ve endured a few more years of traditional business classes, and I’ve enjoyed a couple more social enterprise classes immensely. But I’ve always found it interesting how stark of a difference there is between the two types of classes. The comparison may be hard to make for others in the social enterprise program, as many of the students are studying international affairs or something similar. But as a business student, I found myself in one class being told “The primary purpose of a business is to make a profit. Nothing else really matters, as long as you are more profitable than your competitors,” and then immediately going to my next class and being told “A lot of businesses operate under the idea that making a profit is the sole purpose of a business. But the reality is that a business can still be successful while paying careful attention to how it treats all stakeholders- suppliers, workers, and the community at large.”

This past semester, I took a course about the social responsibility of business in the age of growing inequality- by the way, did you know that the United States has the fastest growing rate of income inequality? Anyways, by this point my frustrations about the traditional business classes that I was taking had really started to solidify. In this social enterprise class, we talked in depth about a lot of aspects of business that my traditional business classes addressed, from supply chain management, to human resources and organizational behavior, to marketing, to finance. But we addressed how to operate in a socially responsible way within those areas. And I realized that the concepts surrounding social responsibility I was learning and discussing in this class were not once brought up in any of my traditional business classes.

One particular point that I thought about was my supply chain management class. In that class, we had to take part in a virtual simulation where we had to manage the supply chain of a clothing factory. But the focus throughout that entire course was always efficiency, efficiency, efficiency. And profit, profit, profit. I understand that, but I also find myself asking, “Wouldn’t it have been appropriate to maybe once address the ethical implications of supply chain management?” But those implications were never even brought to our attention as something that should be considered. And I find that troubling.

In my business strategy class, we did a case study on the pharmaceutical industry. My professor mentioned how important it is for companies to secure patents on drugs- “so that nobody else can imitate you and steal all your profits”. But earlier that day, in my social enterprise class, we discussed the pharmaceutical company Mylen, and how they were using their patent on the Epipen technology to jack the prices up, making it inaccessible to many people who need the lifesaving drug.

Those are just some examples of the many contradictions between my traditional business classes and my social enterprise classes. I understand that the social enterprise field is seen as an alternative to traditional business in general, but I wish that they weren’t so separated, especially in the school setting. As it stands right now, only students who have a special interest in social justice or ethical business tend to seek out social enterprise classes and programs. That’s great and all, but it means that a huge fraction of future business leaders are not being exposed to these important classes and insights and perspectives on business. Arguably, the people who need exposure to these different perspectives the most are the ones who have no idea that social entrepreneurship even exists.

Only students who have a special interest in social justice or ethical business tend to seek out social enterprise classes and programs. That’s great and all, but it means that a huge fraction of future business leaders are not being exposed to these important classes and insights and perspectives on business.

I believe that all business students should be forced to confront difficult questions about how business has the power to impact people and the world in both positive and negative ways. Across all aspects of business, from supply chain, to marketing, to finance, and beyond, students should consider the implications of business decisions and think critically about how business can be a powerful tool for good. And schools should place an emphasis on teaching that businesses that are mission-driven and that consider the wellbeing of all stakeholders can still be very successful.

Schools should put more effort into exposing students to the perspectives that social entrepreneurship brings- students should not have to seek out these perspectives entirely on their own. This would require a re-thinking of the business curriculum at most schools, but perhaps a re-thinking is necessary. Today, there are still many problems that need attention, and inequality in various forms is becoming more and more of a pressing issue that affects an increasing amount of people. The political landscape is shaky and unclear, and the importance of individual people standing up and taking a part in making positive change is becoming more and more apparent. College students are going to be the decision makers and the change makers of the future, and they should be taught that social innovation through business is an accessible and actionable way of making positive change.