Redefining Good Business

Need a quick cure for the despair induced by news about bad behavior among the titans of industry and investing? The Tuesday New York Times story about how Vestergaard-Frandsen makes a commercial success of producing low-cost, high-quality health products for the developing world is well worth a read. This firm, which describes its products as "disease control textiles," makes bednets and bug-killing curtains, insecticide-treated plastic sheeting for emergency shelters, various simple-to-use but technologically sophisticated filters to protect against parasites like guinea worm and other water-borne diseases.

Despite the fact that the primary users are refugees and villagers in remote parts of Africa, since 1992 Verstergaard-Frandsen has made a successful commercial enterprise out of serving the poor -- not as a corporate social responsibility afterthought, but as the core business model. Do the enthusiastic owners and employees get multi- million dollar bonuses to recognize their technical ingenuity and financial savvy? Nope. They get the rewards that come from doing good business -- with the emphasis on good.