Create value, make a profit, nourish your community, and drive a sustainable business.
You would think big corporate companies (like any Shell or Google) are highly profitable. But actually, they are not. Since the introduction of the electronic stock market exchange in 1971 (Nasdaq), business has changed. Trading of stocks became so easy with the use of computers that shares could be bought and sold just as easily and also very quickly. This created an economy in which growth is the ever-going motor, meaning these companies have to keep on delivering higher profits every year, or their shares will be sold, and they will go bankrupt. The result: Marginalized or outsourced workforces, eating all of the reserves and even making customers redundant. Everything to keep showing growth—on paper, at least. It has nothing to do with real business anymore, like creating real value for your customers, selling your service and products to them, paying for costs, and creating revenue. For the big boys, it's all about keeping the shareholders happy. All strategic decisions are made for short-term growth. So, sustainability and environmental consciousness are not very high on their list. The digital economy is interfering with this model, though, bringing need and demand together, like eBay, for example. This new digital model could interfere and break the cycle. Creating value for customers on local or global scale, connecting with them, having real profits in return and no shareholders to push up the price or influence long-term strategies. There comes a challenge, though. Big platforms like Facebook, Amazon, and Uber are also submitted to shareholders, and those shares are blown up to such proportion that they also have to keep growing in such an unhealthy pace that they may even sell people's data in order to keep on making money. Small businesses can make a difference. They are the hope of this new digital economy. But there is a challenge here as well. The big platforms rule the algorithms (they get the best spots). The future will tell!