Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'business'

Remembering Business and Rebuilding the City

  Several months ago, in the wake of Detroit’s bankruptcy and the flurry of discussions surrounding it, Chris Horst and I co-wrote a post on how Christians mustn’t forget or neglect the role of business in our attempts to rebuild, restore, and reinvigorate failing cities. Continue Reading...

The Hypocrisy of Requiring Business to Abandon their Conscience

Mary Ann Glendon makes an excellent point about the outcry for more corporate responsibility while government is simultaneously stripping away the rights of religious conscience of businesses. In The Boston Globe, Glendon notes, The simple truth is that if we want businesses, incorporated or not, to be responsible for their actions, they must be treated as having some moral agency. Continue Reading...

Trade as a Solution for Bickering Toddlers

If you’ve raised multiple children, you’ve dealt with sibling bickering, particularly if said children are close in age. With a three-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl, both just 13 months apart, our family has suddenly reached a stage where sibling play can be either wholly endearing or down-right frightening. Continue Reading...

When a Church Matches Missions with Entrepreneurship

Pastor Daniel Harrell had a heart for missions, so upon unexpectedly receiving roughly $2 million from a land sale, his Minnesota church was energized to use the funds accordingly. Though they had various debts to pay and building projects to fund, the church was committed to allocating at least 20 percent to service “outside of their walls.” Continue Reading...

The Economics of Profiling

I ran across this video yesterday (courtesy of ESA), which I thought presented some interesting challenges and issues: The video was presented on Upworthy as an example of something “all white people could do to make the world a better place,” that is, use their white privilege to address injustices. Continue Reading...

Fulfillment and Flourishing at Costco

There’s a real business advantage to treating employees well, says Jim Sinegal, CEO of Costco Corporation, an international membership warehouse club. Boasting the lowest employee turnover rate in retailing, Costco pays 40 percent more than its closest rival, Sam’s Club, and provides health insurance to more than 90 percent of its employees. Continue Reading...

What Do Entrepreneurs Pray About?

“How is religion related to entrepreneurial behavior?” As Joe Carter pointed out last week, a new study by Baylor University sought to examine this very question. Focusing specifically on American entrepreneurs, researchers Mitchell J. Continue Reading...

Do We Want Prices to Fool Us?

J.C. Penney recently gave up on last year’s strategy to abandon sales and coupons in favor of “everyday low pricing.” As an article in the New York Times points out, “simplifying pricing, it turns out, is not that simple”: “It may be a decent deal to buy that item for $5,” said Ms. Continue Reading...