“Today, a company must take a stand for sustainability in the world and not simply provide lip service when the subject is brought up. There is nothing noble about a company that complies with laws that are in step with sustainable practices—that is their legal obligation. I am interested in the next steps: it is time for these companies to put their money where their mouths are.”
Better World Casinos believes that companies can be profitable while simultaneously working toward social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Companies should be held accountable for their social and environmental footprint. And corporate transparency is the foundation for accountability.
Once upon a time
Businesses used to be more transparent. For generations, most businesses were conducted locally. If the person with whom you spoke was an employee, you could be relatively certain that the owner was not far away. The owner and, by association, their employees, were held accountable– there was a certain level of transparency that allowed the business to be successful. Good businesses succeeded, and bad businesses failed simply based on reputation.
But the world has changed
With the advent of better logistics, cheaper production, and the streamlining of distribution offered by the onset of the digital age, goods and services became more accessible and less expensive. The corporate world started to shift. Companies did away with their transparency. Their intentions have always been obvious: corporations sought to make as much profit as possible.
Instead of acting as an agent for the local owner and being motivated to help solve customer problems, the person behind the counter became a worker with no greater investment in the workings of the company than an hourly wage. And the company took no great investment in them.
In this transition, the compensation ratio between the executives who made decisions and the workforce became ridiculously exaggerated. The goal wasn't about the relationships with the customers anymore, but increasingly on short-term profits and rewarding shareholders– those who held ownership of the company.
Companies became less sustainable, externalizing their costs by moving production to countries with lower wages and less regulation, not caring for the stakeholders and society. And they get away with it because most people don't see what is really going on.
I believe in transparency
People don't see it because most business isn't transparent. This lack of transparency is what I want to change.
My goal is two-pronged. I want:
- to build a company that stands for sustainability—to lead by example– to shine a light on companies in the online gaming world and to urge them to do the same.
- to provide and translate the corporate information that is available to the consumer and create awareness in the online gaming world that would help lead to change.
It’s a simple choice. Choose to support companies that hold themselves to a higher standard of sustainability. Provide those companies with your patronage and pass by companies that would only offer lip service or the barest minimum of participation possible—and then only because the laws tell them they must.
I will strive to make more prominent the companies that work hard to fulfil their promises of sustainability. As you stand with me, we can all work toward greater corporate social responsibility. We can focus our economic strength as a group on companies that choose to be transparent and work toward a better world. And we can make these companies work for these greater goods. This change is possible. Now is the time.
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