MUMBAI: A business show dedicated to reporting news, trends and stories of the companies, governments, and people worldwide who are redefining success with socially and environmentally responsible practices, investments, and lifestyles.
That is what US public broadcaster PBS (Public Broadcasting System) has up its sleeve. Ethical Marketplace kicks off on 15 March 2005 and has been produced by a media firm of the same name -Ethical Marketplace.
The show will take viewers beyond the balance sheets of the companies with engaging, real-life stories of businesses, executives, investors, and consumers that demonstrate an increasingly popular standard of corporate citizenship measured by the integrated triple bottom line often referred to as People, Profit and Planet.
These often overlooked and unaccounted social and environmental assets can be as valuable as monetary capital. This comprehensive view of business success promotes growth through practices that respect a company’s stakeholders, employees, customers, and investors, as well as the surrounding community.
Hosted by Simran Sethi, a former MTV news anchor and producer, Ethical Marketplace claims to be the only programme to report on these unaccounted-for assets through weekly topics such as fair trade, renewable energy and Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) – a market that has grown to represent 11 per cent (roughly $2.2 trillion) of all US investments under professional management .
The show explores the business assumptions that affect every investor from fund managers, corporate executives, board members, small business owners and employees to consumers, students, millions of involuntary investors with pensions, $401,000 plans or other forms of indirect investments. Viewers can use this information to improve their quality of life in ways that reflect their personal interests, ethics, values and goals for success.
The show has been produced by Dr. Hazel Henderson – an author, futurist and sustainable business economics expert. She says that business leaders are increasingly realizing the value of an economic model that measures business success by focussing on the greater community and environment, as well as profit
“Ethical Marketplace is the first TV series to show consumers and investors how they can align their investments with their beliefs, and visions for a better future. Each episode includes in-studio and field-based segments such as Walking The Talk and examines the overall topic from multiple viewpoints such as appreciating assets and earth ethics.
” They will provide discussions with executives from Fortune 500 companies to small start-ups, personal stories of people seeking value and success. The show will help derive a historical perspective, indicators of success, quality of life, new technologies as well as realistic projections for the future.”