When Companies Need To Take A Stand

Businesses – including Disney and Apple -- are cutting ties with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine even if it means a loss of revenue from Russian supporters. But as for Disney and Apple customers and employees in the rest of the world, taking a political stand against brutality and despotism might ultimately be to their business advantage.

In a March 11, 2022 op-ed in the NY Times, columnist Peter Coy cited a recent Gartner survey of 3,000 workers about their reaction to their employer taking a strong political stand on an issue. It turned out that 68 percent said they would consider quitting their job and work with an organization with a stronger viewpoint on the social issues they care about.

In what is called an era of enlightened capitalism, companies need to realize they are part of the political process. Consumers certainly vote with their wallets, and companies like Tom’s of Maine, which donates 10% of its profits to charity, benefit from customers who support a company even more because of its philanthropic outreach. 

Deciding when to take a political stand – whether supporting gay rights or a nation’s right to independence – requires taking into account a complexity of factors, including customer and employee opinions, as well as the potential impact to a company’s revenues and public image. What will be the benefits of taking a political position and how will it balance against the potentially negative impacts?

That’s a question CrowdSmart AI was designed to help solve. Our SaaS system captures the opinions, insights, beliefs, and knowledge of everyone both inside and outside your business. That includes employees, investors, customers, partners, consultants, and particularly mainstream and social media, whose influence can extend beyond your company’s reach. Our AI system then captures, filters, and aligns the most accurately predictive insights. And this takes place in a matter of hours, not weeks or months required in a traditional survey.

With CrowdSmart, your business decision – whether to support a political or social cause – can be based on the collective intelligence inside and outside your company and extend beyond your customer base. Our AI combined with this collective intelligence can help you make better, more predictive decisions than you would otherwise be able to make based on “instinct” or the opinions of a few executives.

If you want to find out how this might work for your company, check out www.CrowdSmart.ai and send us an email for a demo. Take a stand with CrowdSmart, the intelligence that keeps on giving.