Search posterous

Search all posts and users. Type a name, type a favorite song title, whatever! See what comes up.
  

More posterous blogs











More recommended blogs »

Here are posterous posts filed under fairness...

pressehofcom says...

With immediate effect the customers can publicly evaluate the online printers in their online shop and submit feedback on customer satisfaction. This is made possible by the customer evaluation portal of Trusted Shops, the leading European certifier of online shops that also certified the German website www.diedruckerei.de and the English website www.onlineprinters.com .

The new evaluation system is just as simple as it is safe. With only a few clicks the buyer rates the quality of the website, the delivery, the merchandise and the customer service on a scale between one and five points. In addition, the buyers can add to their evaluation a personal commentary. Subsequently, the...

Read article Transparent Printing on Pressehof

Filed under: fairness

timoheuer says...

Gestern hat mein lieber Sören Stamer in Frankfurt den "Deutschen Fairness-Preis" überreicht bekommen. Ich war aus Hannover angereist. Sören sagte in seiner guten Dankesrede, er habe bei CoreMedia versucht, die von ihm gelebte Kultur des Bauernhofes, auf dem er aufwuchs, - also die Kultur der Transparenz, Fairness, Gemeinschaft und des Feedbacks - in sein Unternehmen zu übertragen. Er sprach von den Anfängen und erzählte, dass einem Höhergestellten ehrliches Feedback zu geben in der deutschen Kultur und Mentalität schwierig ist. Natürlich sprach er auch über Fairness. Er führte das Gefangenendilemma als Beispiel an, wo Unfairness siegt. Fairness sei ein Prozess, der sich entwickelt, sagte er. Gerade das Internet sei ein optimales Mittel, um durch seine Transparenz sowohl Unfairness als auch Fairness sichtbar zu machen und Unfairness zunichte zu machen.

Gleichwohl erzählte Sören auch von den Plänen in seiner Zukunft. Zwar gebe es mehr Informationen verfügbar, doch würde immer weniger dafür bezahlt. Und es gebe wenige, die viel Geld bekämen und viele, die wenig Geld für ihre künstlerische Leistung bekämen. Er will deshalb in Zukunft den Konsumenten und den Produzenten fairer behandeln. Und zwar mit einem neuen Startup! Ich drücke ihm die Daumen und unterstütze ihn natürlich!

Anschließend gab es das Fairness-Forum, bei dem zuerst drei Sprecher Einzelvorträge hielten und später diese drei, gemeinsam mit Dr. Copray, dem Leiter der Fairness-Stiftung, und dem Preisträger Sören Stamer an einer Podiumsdiskussion teilnahmen. Zuerst sprach Prof. Dr. Birger Priddat einzeln. Er kam mir wie ein Ökonomiephilosph vor und hatte eine gute Erzählstruktur. Vor allem aber definierte er einige Begriffe und erklärte die Rationalität (oder Irrationalität) eines Vertrages.

Nach Prof. Dr. Priddat sprach Jutta Ditfurth, Mitbegründerin "Der Grünen" und eine gewagte Einladung. Sie provozierte, wo sie konnte ("Der Kapitalismus schrumpft, um noch mörderischer aus der Wirtschaftskrise herauszukommen" oder "Wer nicht plündert, verliert im Kapitalismus gegen die Konkurrenz"), doch bekam einigen Beifall, was sie sehr verwunderte. Sie sprach von Instrumenten des Staates, um Milieus zu unterdrücken und vertrat die Meinung, es gäbe keinen guten Kapitalismus und man dürfe nicht in (schlechten) Anglo-Kapitalismus und (guten) "germanischen" Kapitalismus unterscheiden. Zum Abschluss brachte sie ein Beispiel aus ihrem neuesten Buch. Es ging darin um Cleveland und Eigenheime, die von der Deutschen Bank zwangsgeräumt worden waren. Wo wir beim nächsten Sprecher wären.

Prof. Dr. Norbert Walter ist Chefvolkswirt bei der Deutschen Bank und reagierte auf die Ausführungen von Jutta Ditfurth mit einer emotionalen Rede und seiner Lebensgeschichte und Patriotismus ("für mein Land gearbeitet"). Er muss ein guter Rhetoriker sein, die Leute saßen gebannt auf ihren Stühlen und hatten Angst, zu husten. Norbert Walter sah aus als "wäre er traurig" (Jutta Ditfurth). Interessant war aber seine Meinung dazu, wie Menschen "ticken". Es gäbe (mindestens) drei verschiedene menschliche Kostenfunktionen. Das bedeutet einige Menschen liegt es an der Maximierung ihrer Macht, anderen an der ihres Geldes und wieder anderen geht es um Anerkennung. Auch auf den Vorwurf Ditfurths an die Deutsche Bank reagierte Prof. Dr. Walter und entgegnete, dass in den USA Menschen in Eigenheime gedrängt würden, denen das Geld dazu fehlt.

So, dann kam die Podiumsdiskussion. Sören zitierte Muhammed Yunus: "Kein Mensch misst am Ende sein Leben daran, wie viel Geld er gemacht hat". Dieses Statement gefiehl mir. Die Frage drehte sich um den Punkt, was treibt uns an. Im Laufe der Diskussion nannte Jutta Ditfurth dann CoreMedia, Zitat, "ganz nett". Nach einigen Fragen und Anmerkungen aus dem Publikum schloss dann die Veranstaltung.

Glückwunsch zum Preis Sören, ich denke, du hast ihn verdient!

     
Click here to download:
Die_Fairness-Preis-Verleihung_.zip (11594 KB)

Filed under: fairness

Terr says...

On September 27, Sami Grover wrote about Elegant Roots on Treehugger.com.  Sami's headline is "Elegant Roots: Green Doesn't (Always) Come Cheap".

Apparently, having been burned repeatedly by criticism of the "pricey-ness" of some green products, Sami felt compelled to an anticipatory rant in response using, as her subject, our $69 handmade, organic stuffed Penguin.

Sami concludes: "It seems to me that if someone is going to spend $60 on toys, then buying one or two well-made, safe and sustainable items beats filling up the toy chest with lead paint and plastic crap. (Not to mention there are plenty of 'luxury' toys out there that don't carry such green credentials...)"

We, at ElegantRoots.com, agree wholeheartedly and appreciate greatly Sami's endorsement. And we agree emphatically that people should Buy Less But Buy Better. As she suggests, there may be some "green" alternatives in a lower price range. But there are other issues at play here.

Social Justice and soulfulness. We offer things that are handmade -- touched by the hand and spirit of the artisan. No machine-turned-out toy can match the feel. And, unlike the Wal-Mart ilk, ElegantRoots.com does not squeeze price concessions from the artisans. A fair price for a handmade item is what we're all about. If a handmade, organic stuffed animal were to sell for half the price, who would bite it on that transaction? The artisan.

I guarantee a "similar" toy can be made in a sweatshop factory in China for a lower price. And who bites it on that transaction. The sweatshop indentured servant.

ElegantRoots.com exists to help create and sustain a market for artisan products that use traditional skills to create marketable designs (Penguins are not a traditional subject in Kenya). If there is no market for these products, traditional skills become economically nonviable. Traditional lifestyles are lost as people are forced to overcrowded cities to join the ranks of the displaced, dependent on sweatshops.

So, when people complain about the prices, what do they really want? Do they want social enterprises like ElegantRoots.com not to exist? Do they want the artisans in developing economies to get squeezed to the bone on prices in order to try to compete with sweatshops? Do they want only "cheap" plastic stuff that winds up in the dump?

Bottom line, you get what you pay for. If you want a product created by hand by some one person with pride and care, working in a joyful community of women receiving fair trade prices, a Penguin from the Critter Knitters of rural Kenya is the perfect choice.

The same applies within the borders of the US. If you want a limited edition Kimochi "emotions" doll made by hand in the US by a noted doll artist, Cody Thompson, shop at ElegantRoots.com.

You'll be glad you did. So will the artisan somewhere (and we tell you where) who, because a market exists, can pursue his/her art and be independent.

And it all comes wrapped in our nonpareil, signature, and COMPLIMENTARY, eco-conscious gift wrap.

Later.


via 3blmedia.com

Filed under: fairness

ravi says...

A fellow named Sergey Aleynikov (who was interestingly a colleague of mine at another company) has been nabbed at Newark Airport, and stands accused of stealing software from Goldman Sachs where he was employed until recently, at the hefty remuneration of $400,000 p.a. Now 400k is the sort of thing that might make you and me call up an financial advisor and get the retirement plan going. Serge, a man of more robust ambitions, saw this salary as a mere stepping stone to a $1+ million new job with Teza Technologies in Chicago. And on the way to the exit at Goldman Sachs, perhaps inadvertently, Serge might have uploaded a few million bytes of Goldman's proprietary trading algorithm software to a German site, no doubt for safekeeping and backup.

The FBI may be slow on the uptake when it comes to terrorists flying aeroplanes into towers, but here they acted swift as the wind, and apprehended young Serge, accusing him of stealing trade software.

Speaking with suitable righteousness, Assistant Attorney Joseph Facciponti has proclaimed:

“The bank has raised the possibility that there is a danger that somebody who knew how to use this program could use it to manipulate markets in unfair ways,” Facciponti said, according to a recording of the hearing made public today.

Someone who knows how to use this program could use it to manipulate markets in unfair ways, claims the bank via Facciponti. Hmm... don't we know someone who knows how to use this program, and has been using it for these many years until young Serge decided to share it with the rest of humanity? Namely, Goldman Sachs?

Larry Tabb at the TABB group breaks down the unfairness of it, for us:

“Someone stealing that code is basically stealing the way that Goldman Sachs makes money in the equity marketplace,” said Larry Tabb, founder of TABB Group, a financial-market research and advisory firm. “The more sophisticated market makers -- and Goldman is one of them -- spend significant amounts of money developing software that’s extremely fast and can analyze different execution strategies so they can be the first one to make a decision.”

Someone could use the code “to implement the same strategies and maybe on certain stocks they can be faster and, in effect, take away money that would normally be Goldman’s,” Tabb said today in a phone interview. “The second thing that they can do is actually analyze the code so that they know what Goldman’s going to do before Goldman does it and kind of reverse engineer Goldman’s strategies and make money basically at the expense of Goldman.”

Now that explains Goldman's pique: Serge's actions allow everyone else to also manipulate the market, eating into their record-setting $11.6 billion earning (2007). Clearly the Federal Government needs to do something about it. Like arrest Sergey.

(via Bloomberg)

Filed under: fairness

It is written:
"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who went out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with the workers on a wage of one denarius, [the standard daily wage,] he sent them off to his vineyard.
Then, on going out at about nine in the morning, he saw more men standing around in the market-square doing nothing,
and said to them, `You go to the vineyard too -- I'll pay you a fair wage.' So they went.
At noon, and again around three in the afternoon, he did the same thing.
About an hour before sundown, he went out, found still others standing around, and asked them, `Why have you been standing here all day, doing nothing?"
They said to him, `Because no one hired us.' `You too,' he told them, `go to the vineyard.'
"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, `Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and ending with the first.'
The workers who came an hour before sunset each received a denarius,
so the workers who came first expected they would get more, but each of them also received just a denarius.
On receiving their wages, they began grumbling to the farmer,
`These latecomers have worked only one hour, while we have borne the brunt of the day's work in the hot sun, yet you have put them on an equal footing with us!'
~matt 20

In other words ... they complained that these where 'special' enough to be 'equal.'

 

Filed under: fairness