yeah, we definitely need to change that "democracies... free of politics" line. A more accurate statement would be something like "What if corporations where meritocracies... free(er) of personal politics"
As for Visa, I completely agree with you, they are in no way an inspiration on the social enterprise or 'values' front. They are however a really good example of how an innovation in organizational governance (namely a decentralized meritocracy) can be leveraged to compete effectively. They didn't start out with only one competitor. At the time they started Americard had the lion's share.
And I totally agree that the consumers are different from the people who pay the fees. Dee Hock (the founder) notes in his biography that one of his biggest regrets was his failure to give the consumers and the merchants decision-making power in the governance of VISA.
wow.
Overall, though, it has some interesting points. I especially like what they said about values- I think values can be looked at as a set of /simple/ rules that can be used to make the best decision when the entire system is complex. Even if your 'best decision' is 'maximize long term profit' I think that a good set of values simplifies the decision making process at each step of the way.
I find it interesting that they keep using Visa as an example, though. I think visa is innovative, yes, but not in the socially positive, sustainable way. Visa attempts to lock in it's market, and then to charge based on 'value provided' rather than 'cost of production plus some profit' Of course, that happens in all markets when customers can't move. Visa is in an interesting situation because they only have one real competitor, and because they are in a situation where the people making the decision to use them or not (consumers) are different from the people who pay their fees (merchants.) Still- Visa isn't a company I'd hold up as a paragon of 'values' because of this. I'm not saying what they are doing should be illegal or anything, but it's certainly not good for society.