Question

What were some of the concepts that made you curious or prompted you to look at the relationship between business and society differently?

Answer 1

On this round earth, everything is linked to another one. No one can survive/exist and grow in isolation. Each and every component requires the assistance of another one in some or other way. The concept applies in case of businesses also. All the business houses exist in society and grow with the society only.

Every business needs inputs for their flourishment which includes: land, labour and capital. They need to depend on the society for all these thngs. In return for these inputs, business houses provide them the following:

Land: Land is given to the corporates fro setting up of their plant/ factories and they paid rent for using these lands.

Labour: Both blue collar and white collar labour is used by the corporates and thet paid wages/ salaries to them for availing their services.

Capital: People keep their money in banks in form of savings which is transferred to business houses in the form of loans. They pay interest on these loans which is given back by banks to the people as interest on their savings.

In this way, cycle goes on, when any business unit is set up, development takes place simultaneously. Growth of business leads to flourishment of people, upliftment of society and finally development of the economy.

But, are business now- a -days contributing to the society really:

- Now - a-days , we see that as the businesses are growing and manufacturing activities are increasing, nature is getting harmed. They just have the objective of minting profit anyhow without paying consideration to any other thing, Environment is alarming and in the current year, it is getting difficult to even breathe in this polluted air. Business houses are not paying attention for disposing off the waste and it is getting piled up in all the cities, making the life of people there a hell.

- People are also underpaid and used for the monetary objectives of the corporates. Employees are overburdenened, harrassed and are not given proper treatment at the workplace.

- Directly or indirectly, profit making objective of the business houses are also increasing corruption and illegal activities in the society. They don't think about any ethical or moral values, when only earning profit is their primary objective.

Keeping in view all these things and protecting the society at large, givernment is coming up with different laws and regulations relating to envoronment, legal laws and punishments are also becoming harsh for the people involving in malpractices. During the last few years, a new concept of "Corporate Social Responsibility" has also been evolved which mandates the business corporates to contribute some percentage of their profits in social responsibility. These activities include donation protecting the environment, donating for medicare or hospitals, contributing in sports/ cultural activities or contribution towards any such area of social benefit. These things have been brought up to make understand the business houses for their responsibilities towards societies in a smart and better way. Also, business houses are encouraged to perform in an ethical maaner by hosting some events and awards for recognizing the business houses who have performed ethically and contributed towards the society.

Thus, in nut shell one should understand its responsibility towards the society and perform in such a way that it can help you , your future generation and soociety at large in long run too.