Social Responsibility

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Business must embrace social responsibility as a requirement, a duty in the present world as business has a huge impact on the society and the environment. To work responsibly and ethically should be the values of a business because social responsibility can be directly associated with a good profitable business.

Social responsibility creates a win-win situation for a business organization. First and foremost it must be stressed that social responsibility is a must for all organizations. We can point out a few factors why it should, and why it would be a good proposition to be a socially responsible business. Following are a few of the reasons:

* Businesses must conduct their business ethically

* The present condition of the earth that we are living in is in a sorry state. We have abused and misused the resources available to us and the effects are now glaring at us (global warming, environmental degradation, pollution, depletion of natural resources etc.). Businesses have contributed to environmental degradation to a large extent and they should now undertake considerate measures (sustainable development) to make amends for their actions.

* Businesses have a wide reach through customers and their operations, hence they can be hugely effective in spreading awareness and educating the masses.

* Social responsibility means working for the society and when a business works for the society, the society benefits and also does the business. Businesses create wealth and job and they bring prosperity to many in the society. For businesses to flourish or survive they require a healthy environment (society) and they have to ensure that their business is operating in just the right kind of environment.

* Social responsibility helps in building reputation of the business which is profitable for the business in the long run. In the present era where there is quite a widespread awareness related to social and environmental issues, many consumers prefer to buy or invest only in companies which is socially responsible. So, incorporating "green" technology and developing "green" products could open up new avenues for a business and generate huge revenues; for example General Electric, British Petroleum, Shell Renewables, Walmart etc.

This would also improve the image of the business as it would be seen as a responsible business contributing to the well being of the society and the world as a whole.

Slavery in the Chocolate Industry - A Case Study

The cocoa farmers in the