Film Reflection Essay: Not Business As Usual - Business Ethics

This essay provides an analysis of the documentary film "Not Business As Usual," which focuses on the emerging trend of conscious capitalism and the integration of societal values into business practices. The essay summarizes the film's central theme, which highlights how businesses can prioritize both profit and social good, and the message it conveys about the increasing demand for ethical and eco-friendly products. The author discusses key learning outcomes, including the shift towards socially responsible business operations and the importance of embedding societal values throughout the business supply chain. The essay also examines the issues of business responsibilities addressed in the film, such as pollution and deforestation, and considers the potential impact of these new ethical business models on established corporations. The analysis further explores the film's objectivity and subjectivity, and concludes with a reflection on the concept of conscious capitalism and its implications for the future of business.

Running head: NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL
NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction
Business entrepreneurs have begun to understand the importance of embedding
societal value and benefits in profit making. The idea of doing social good to the environment
as a business, which extracts the resources from that same environment to operate, has been
existing for long (Pearson, 2017). However, most of the activities of businesses to do good to
the society majorly came forward through their CSR activities (Carlini et al., 2019). The new
idea is that incorporating societal benefits into the business processes of an organization not
only does good to the society, but also to the organization’s image, and subsequently, its
profits. This is the concept based on which a documentary film has been made, entitled, “Not
Business As Usual”, which aims at identifying the key areas and concepts to the changing
perspective of doing business in a socially and environmentally ethical way. The purpose of
this essay is to analyze the documentary film, in terms of learning outcomes and other
reflections.
Summary
“Not Business as Usual” is created with the aim of highlighting how Institute B,
which is an entrepreneur accelerator, has been effectively attempting at creating
entrepreneurs who value the needs and benefits of the society while operating their
businesses. The theme of the movie is that operational aspects of businesses are changing in
an innovative way, which are devoted towards making sure that profit and societal values are
kept at an equal platform. The message which this documentary film aims at providing is that
the demand for healthy, organic and eco friendly products and practices are at an all time
high. Therefore, once the public are aware of who is doing business in the right way, the
revenues and proportion of market share would shift too (McQuired et al., 2019).

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Major Learning Outcome
What is most learnt from this documentary film is the fact that business operations
have been moving towards a more socially appreciable direction, and is indicative of the fact
that the time is near when only the ones who incorporate social into values into their business
values will sustain in the market. The other major learning outcome is that CSR marketing is
not the only way in which companies can prove their concern for the society, and embedding
the values of the society, starting from the supply chain of the business operations of an
organization is effective multifold.
Issues Related to Business Responsibilities
It is true that businesses have the responsibility of returning values to the society,
from which it extracts to operate. The issues which have been discussed in the film are
avoidable to say the least. However, some issues, like deforestation are insurmountable for an
organization to repay to the society. The film takes every kind of pollution into account, and
the ways in which they could be minimized. Hence, it can be said that the issues which have
been discussed in the film are highly prevalent in the society which are doing more harm than
good. Pollution is the leading cause of climate change and global warming and a majority of
the blame goes to product-oriented businesses.
Effect on Big Corporations in The Long Run
Existing big corporations have their own established ways of doing business, in an
established market. Therefore, these new entrepreneurs, who are coming up with their ways
of doing business in an ethical and socially responsible manner, keeping profit and social
values on the same platform, pose the threats of disruptive technologies to the big
corporations. People value their societal values and the sustainability of the environment in
which they live. Therefore, they would automatically favor the new entrepreneurs in their

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ventures, shifting away from the big corporations. To stay competitive in the market, these
corporations will also resort to doing business in a socially responsible manner, thereby
changing the landscape of business operations globally.
Objectivity / Subjectivity
The film is mostly objective, leaving little to the interpretation and imagination of the
audiences, depicting the true cases of business ethics and the new emerging form of B-Corps,
where businesses can pursue ethical and social goals without worrying about the opinions of
the stakeholders. The theme of the film did not project anything but the idea of the new
emerging form of operating businesses. However, it lost its objectivity in some areas where
the film did not consider the ethical practices which have been adopted by established
businesses as well, or other entrepreneur accelerating institutes which have been taking
similar approaches. Therefore, the film has been a little biased in that sense, implying that it
is not entirely made in an objective manner.
Conclusion
“Not Business As Usual” is a documentary film which has been created to portray the
new form of business, which has been referred to as conscious capitalism. It depicts how
Institute B, an entrepreneur accelerator has been producing entrepreneurs who incorporate
societal values in their business values. The film argues that the demand for socially
acceptable businesses is at an all time all time high, and the public will support those who do
business in the right way. The film is highly objective in its portrayal of the issues related to
business practices around the world, and the emerging form of conscious capitalism.
However it has been biased towards solely portraying the approaches of Institute B.

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References
Carlini, J., Grace, D., France, C., & Lo Iacono, J. (2019). The corporate social responsibility
(CSR) employer brand process: integrative review and comprehensive model. Journal
of Marketing Management, 1-24.
McQuired, J., Defalque, J., Moses, G., Chisholm, T., & Butt, L. (2019). Not Business As
Usual. Retrieved from http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/not-business-as-usual/
Pearson, R. (2017). Business ethics as communication ethics: Public relations practice and
the idea of dialogue. In Public relations theory (pp. 111-131). Routledge.