V&R is wedded to the idea that a business is most moral when modelled on the estate of Max Scheler (V&R, Chapter 5). A good example of the estate, even within vast industries, is the genba — the solidaristic and innovative worker’s ethos of Japan (“Japan’s Famed Manufacturing Model Is Facing a Crisis” [WSJ:…
Formally, ours is an egalitarian age. One of the great custodians of this idea is the fashion establishment, at least in America, where fashion editorials relentlessly drive home equal rights, inclusion, globalism, etc. It is also absurd. Many brands trade on national identity and massive unequal wealth polices luxury, and especially haute couture. Asymmetries…
This is a super article about the new tech incubator in Paris and both Burke and Kolnai (V&R, Chapter 7) would approve. http://fortune.com/2018/09/03/in-the-lab-of-luxury/ It’s a good example confirming Kolnai’s idea about the resilience of hierarchy.
The degree to which bots will upend the work landscape and potentially make defunct whole categories of white and blue collar jobs is an open question. In all the talk, few have thought bots would pose a challenge to models. Not exactly bots, but digital avatars are starting to replace models. As our lives…
A very interesting article on both the business of couture and why the young find it appealing: https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/millennials-coutures-biggest-clients As always with couture, Burke approves. Somewhat, he also approves of the financial instruments that make it possible: http://www.libertylawsite.org/2017/06/30/in-trusts-we-trust/
V&R loves vintage and this small company in Indiana makes retro style mopeds and small bikes. V&R Chapter 5 also defends the claim that Max Scheler’s idea of the estate — craft, local, family, history — is the most moral model of a firm. Janus matches these attributes. The company has a high quality video…
Momotaro is a Japanese company making jeans ranging in price from $250 to $2000. Craft and handwork goes into them all and the denim in the most expensive jeans is made on hand-operated looms (“Japan Reinvents the Bluejean, for $2000,” WSJ, June 6th, 2018: behind paywall, sorry). I do not know the exact business…
As mentioned previously, reaction to Andrew Bolton’s “Heavenly Bodies” at the Met has ranged from annoyed Catholics and secularists to others, like V&R, who are thrilled. Some who have posed a stark contrast between fashion and the Church — and this can include both Catholics and secularists — oftentimes simply misunderstand the nature of…
V&R emerged from my teaching at Loyola’s business school. This good article accurately describes much that passes for ethical reflection in US business schools (https://newrepublic.com/article/148368/ideology-business-school). Jesuit business schools are different, however, and serious reflection on the role of business in hampering or fostering the common good is on-going. I have proposed Scheler’s estate…
Fast fashion leaders Zara are also a moral model in that much of their production is local to Galicia, Spain. Family headquarters, design, and production all aligned, as per Scheler’s estate (V&R Chapter 5). This article is about the city of Corunna, its economy flush with Zara money (https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/zara-hipsters-transform-their-hometown-into-a-spanish-powerhouse?utm_source=Subscribers&utm_campaign=96ec407a02-rei-kawakubo-s-pain-of-creation&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d2191372b3-96ec407a02-417297929). Corunna is also the…