Beberapa Catatan Tentang Long Distance Relationship

Untuk beberapa waktu, anda yang punya pasangan perlu menjalani Long Distance Relationship (LDR). Serius.

Sejak September tahun ini saya menjalani LDR. Saya di Tilburg, NL, kuliah (samaran untuk jobless tak berpenghasilan ;p) dan istri saya di Jakarta, kerja. And life is good, I think.

Pertama, tentu ide bapak rumah tangga bukan ide yang buruk. Ibu bekerja, ayah lakukan yang dia suka, haha. Waktu saya ke Jakarta setelah beberapa lama LDR, kerjaan saya antar istri saya ke kantor, antar anak ke playgroup, internetan, ke gramedia beli buku, baca buku, jemput anak. Jam 4 jemput istri lagi, terus nonton. Dan, setidaknya untuk seminggu-dua minggu, melakukan itu terus sama sekali tidak membosankan.

Kedua, LDR memberikan kesempatan untuk masing-masing menemukan "kesendirian". Saya udah hampir lupa bagaimana hidup sendiri. Makan ya dibuatin, kopi udah siap tiap pagi, baju juga kadang dibeliin, bangun tidur dibangunin. Istri saya juga, dianter (well, kadang-kadang), dijemput (selalu), kalau ada apa-apa nyuruh saya (yang hampir selalu saya lama-lamain, hehe, sorry sayang, aa emang pemalas). Jadinya saling dependen. Nah, dengan LDR, klise sih, kita jadi sangat menghargai sekecil apapun yang dilakukan pasangan kita, kalau sendirian mah lumayan ngehe.. Beli grocery, masak seadanya, makan sayur cuma sop instan, atau sayur dicampur di roti...Lumayan ribet. Istri saya juga jadi dipaksa nyetir sendiri (dan bisa! proud of you, hun), dan harapan saya sih, jadi lebih menghargai kalau saya nyetir ngasal, soale kadang-kadang nyetir itu kan ngebosenin.

Ketiga, LDR bikin tambah kangen dan rindu,hehe.. Serius. Rindunya kayak waktu sebelum atau saat nikah. Terus, pengalaman saya sih, karena bener-bener sendiri di apartemen saya, saya jadi mellow. Search lagu-lagu yang pasangan saya suka (dan lagu yang sedih), terus nahan nangis (favorit saya Hurt-nya Christina Aguilera). Atau dengerin lagu romantis. Liat-liat foto yang dulu-dulu. Istri saya mungkin lebih mudah karena masih kerja (jadinya sibuk), dan masih ada anak saya.

Dua tahun lebih nikah itu, kata riset, masa saat cinta menjadi realistis. Sudah saling kompromistis, cukup saling tau, saling terima. LDR merejuvenasi cinta itu. Jadi menggebu lagi, but you know, not (only) in sexual way kayak waktu baru nikah.. Menggebu tapi lebih dewasa (halah!).

Keempat, LDR itu ngebantu menghindari..small conflict. Tentu ga ada pasangan yang bebas dari konflik. Kebanyakan konflik saya ama istri itu small stuff, tentang saya yang indecisive mau pergi atau nggak, mau nonton apa, atau saya yang twitteran mulu lupa ngeliatin anak. Nah, pas LDR-an ya nggak ada konflik itu. Kita masing-masing sibuk, pas skype-an ya ngobrol dan saling kangen aja, hehe.. Saat ada konflik pun, misalnya sebel tiba-tiba ama pasangan kita, besoknya pas skype-an lagi ya biasa lagi. Rasa kangennya melebihi rasa pengen berantem, hehe... Nah, saat jauh itu pun, kita jadi sadar enaknya hubungan yang smooth, dan berasa "kok beda ya?". Pas ketemu, jadi ingin ngejaga smoothness itu, dengan lebih behave. Small conflicts-nya juga jadi lebih berkurang, I think.

Terus lagi, LDR jaman sekarang sih lebih gampang. Bisa terus-terusan online, di twitter, bbm, facebook, whatsapp, atau apapun lah. Mau video call tinggal skype. Telpon ke rumah pake skype juga murah. Tiap hari selalu kontak dan saling mengabari.

Saya baru 3 bulanan sih LDR-an. Ga tau juga ya kalau udah lama. Cuma dugaan saya sih, pasti ga enak kalo lama-lama. Setahun lah. Abis itu mending bareng terus.

Yang susah itu kalau kangen anak, apalagi pas masih 2-3 tahun,huhu.. Anak umur segitu kan masih inget-ga inget ama orang. Anak saya sih masih inget, tapi kadang-kadang kalo skype-an dia lebih milih maen thomas di laptop, hehehe...

I love sayang. Makasih ya udah sabar. :*

Profit Maximization and Corporate Social Responsibility

Dari tugas kuliah saya:

Firms and profit maximization

Firms are formed by the shareholders, which mandates the firm’s management to manager. Manager work in the firm for the shareholder. Thus, managers are agents of the shareholders  and should act, as a manager, for the best interest of shareholders. Managers’ primary responsibility is to their shareholders[1].

Economics theory suggests that shareholder’s mandate is to gain profit. The assertion seems reasonable: if people with money would like to do other things, i.e they desire for a revolution in current administration, they would be better in forming a political party/organization instead of a company.

If the mandate is gaining profit, then the more the profit, the better managers in performing his responsibility to shareholders. Therefore, firms are in business to maximize profits. Profit maximization is the output level at which the firm generates the highest profit.[2] Mathematically, profit maximization is when Marginal Cost = Marginal Revenue (MC = MR)[3].

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a business approach that contributes to sustainable development by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for all stakeholders[4]. Kotler & Lee (2005) defines CSR as “a commitment to improve community well-being through discretionary business practice and contributions of corporate resources”[5].

Basic concept of CSR is a way to operate business that not only consider profit for firm’s shareholders, but also benefit for firm’s stakeholders. There are various stakeholders of a company aside of shareholders (governments, employees, customers, suppliers, community, trade unions), and CSR suggests that corporate should opt (not forced by law, moral or ethical by nature[6]) to use its own resources to improve other stakeholders beside the shareholders. Therefore, in managing their firms, managers should also take into account environmental and social factor, and do something to improve them in sustainable way.

CSR and Profit Maximization

Profit maximization conveys that firms should operate to maximize profit for shareholders, while CSR suggests that firms improve their stakeholders. Meanwhile, firms has limited resources, and if some of these resources are used deliberately for purpose other than generation of firm’s profit, then firms must sacrifice its attainable profit (potential profit)  to environmental and social benefit.

Adopting CSR as primary objective of a firm on top of profit maximization can make the firm (1) fail in achieving their potential total revenue, because resources that firms have are shared for other’s objective, and not fully employed to generate maximal revenue, (2) add unnecessary cost (for activity relates to other stakeholders), thus total cost is increased more than it is supposed-to-be. Since Profit = Total Revenue – Total Cost, then if condition number (1) or (2) (or both) happens, profit will be lower and not maximized. Hence, profit maximization is unlikely aligned with CSR.

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[1] Friedman, Milton.  “The Social Responsibility of Business Is To Increase Its Profits,” The New York Times Magazine, Sept. 13, 1970, No. 33, pp. 122-26. via www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedmansoc-resp-business.html. accessed on November 26, 2011

[2] Begg, David and Ward, Damian. “Economics for Business, third edition,” McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2009, p. 96 & 99.

[3] Proof: If π = Total Revenue – Total Cost, marginal profit dπ/dQ = dTR/dQ – dTC/dQ is maximised when dπ/dQ =0, then dTR/dQ = dTC/dQ or Marginal Revenue = Marginal Cost.

[4] Financial Times Lexicon, “Corporate Social Responsibility CSR,” http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=corporate-social-responsibility--CSR  accessed November 28, 2011.

[5] Kotler, Philip and Lee, Nancy. “Corporate Social Responsibility, Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause,” John Wiley & Sons, 2005, p.3.

[6] Ibid, p.3

Karena terbatas jumlah kata, jadi kurang elaborate (ngeles...;p).

Namun, gimana dengan CSR yg nyata-nyatanya profitable? Starbucks yg lakukan fair trade dgn petani kopi, atau bodyshop, atau 3M yg kurangi polusi tapi malah nambah profit?

Well, di kasus-kasus itu, bukan CSR yg di atas profit maximization, tapi upaya CSR sebagai diferensiasi, thus, *menambah total revenue* atau *mengurangi total cost*. Starbucks & Bodyshop charge a premium in their price. Usaha "CSR" 3M memang mengurangi biaya yang sejalan dengan mengurangi polusi. Teteup profit maximization.

Bagaimana dengan social business? Mandat shareholders-nya beda. Benefit masyarakat di atas profit :).

Nge-Jux Yuk!

Bukan nge-junk lho ya..

Jux itu, apa ya... Kayak blog, kayak gallery, kayak presentasi... Tool baru untuk narsis, atau share idea, atau apapun lah. Saya suka tampilannya, full screen, bebas iklan. Format tulisannya kurang bisa di-customize sih, tapi overall ok. Juga sangat user-friendly.

Sila dilihat jux pertama saya disini:
https://luckluq.jux.com/48729

Belum bisa di-integrate ke blogger euy.. Tapi beginilah kira-kira screenshot nya:

Buat presentasi di kelas juga bisa, kalo bosen dengan powerpoint.

Coba deh, mantap!