Monday, September 20, 2010
Why do non-profits do a better job?
In many areas, non-profit enterprises do a better job than regular corporations. This seems to be a fairly recent situation, maybe the last 10 years or so.
I've discussed Group Health before, which is a non-profit coop that does medical care MUCH better than any private doctor or hospital I've encountered.
Another example is NPR, which serves the basic functions of radio better than the commercial stations. It provides the same quality that used to be available from commercial radio before 1960. A broad range of entertainment, and news with an occasional fact thrown in, unlike the 100% falsehood of the commercial networks. Spokane's NPR station KPBX has a live announcer on duty 24/7, who can handle emergencies and weather events. Commercial stations here use humans only during morning drivetime on weekdays. They run on autopilot the rest of the time, and the autopilot often goes wrong. Result: hours of blank air or hours of simultaneous jumble. Clearly they don't give a damn if they're even reaching an audience let alone serving an audience!
In software, the superiority of Open Source has been well documented. Some Open Source software brings in significant money from licensing, but most doesn't.
My theory, often repeated: The problem with modern commerce is not profit, because modern commerce is no longer about profit. It's aimed mainly at increasing share price, which has a minor and accidental correlation with profit.
Various kinds of non-commercial outfits work better now (comparatively!) because they listen to their customers, which used to be the advantage of commercial businesses when they were motivated by profit. ¶ 1:54 PM
I've discussed Group Health before, which is a non-profit coop that does medical care MUCH better than any private doctor or hospital I've encountered.
Another example is NPR, which serves the basic functions of radio better than the commercial stations. It provides the same quality that used to be available from commercial radio before 1960. A broad range of entertainment, and news with an occasional fact thrown in, unlike the 100% falsehood of the commercial networks. Spokane's NPR station KPBX has a live announcer on duty 24/7, who can handle emergencies and weather events. Commercial stations here use humans only during morning drivetime on weekdays. They run on autopilot the rest of the time, and the autopilot often goes wrong. Result: hours of blank air or hours of simultaneous jumble. Clearly they don't give a damn if they're even reaching an audience let alone serving an audience!
In software, the superiority of Open Source has been well documented. Some Open Source software brings in significant money from licensing, but most doesn't.
My theory, often repeated: The problem with modern commerce is not profit, because modern commerce is no longer about profit. It's aimed mainly at increasing share price, which has a minor and accidental correlation with profit.
Various kinds of non-commercial outfits work better now (comparatively!) because they listen to their customers, which used to be the advantage of commercial businesses when they were motivated by profit. ¶ 1:54 PM
