Becker effort represents boost for ‘good’ business
In some circles big business has taken it on the chin for the widening income disparity between CEO pay and the pay of regular working-class employees in the United States. That disturbing disparity comes on top of Wall Street bearing a large chunk of the blame for the devastating recession that began in 2007, and which to this day remains front and center in our collective psyche.
Some companies, to their credit, have taken steps to narrow that gap. Amid a broad outcry to raise the minimum wage, Wal-Mart, long the focus of advocates for lower-paid workers, announced earlier this year that it would raise the floor wage for about a half-million workers to $9 an hour, $1.75 above the current federal minimum of $7.25. Closer to home, the TJX Cos., the Framingham-based parent of T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods and Marshalls, announced a similar action in March.
While we can all argue that rising wages can hurt business, especially small business, we must also consider that ours remains a consumer driven economy, and if we don't have a healthy middle-class group of consumers, we risk stalling the very engine that drives our economy. The wage stagnation the country has been under may be helping the stock market, but it can't be helping our communities.
On a broader scale, Becker College recently announced it will open a center on its Worcester campus that will focus on how business can identify and solve social problems. The Yunus Social Business Centre will be named for Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist, banker and social entrepreneur who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. He pioneered the concept of social business: utilizing microfinance and microcredit to help the poor develop self-sustainable businesses, especially businesses that can address social problems.
Becker is one of a handful of higher education institutions around the world — and the first in the United States — to establish a Yunus site. It's a noble and commendable cause. Efforts such as this are needed here and elsewhere to help lift people with business and entrepreneurial potential out of poverty, and find business-driven solutions to benefit society in addition to meeting needs in the marketplace. This undertaking, aided by The Seven Hills Foundation, which conducts some of its work in eight developing nations, can also benefit by its location: in the middle of a state that thrives on ingenuity and innovation.
“Business is uniquely positioned to address need, create value, and drive profit which, in turn, can expand the reach, impact, and sustainability of the solution,” Becker President Robert Johnson said in a statement announcing the agreement.
Such a message can resonate well with the Central Massachusetts business community, which, as a whole, recognizes the value and virtue of community involvement. This strategic partnership between Becker and Seven Hills represents an innovative approach and a unique opportunity to create and build more sustainable businesses that can also help the greater good.
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