Social Responsibility

Social Responsibility

Written by Shelley Godra 

A company is approached with a decision to be or not to be socially responsible.  Social responsibility entails a company to help improve the community and society as a whole.  Some companies believe that this concept is the moral and beneficial path to take; however, other companies believe that they already help society by simply existing.  There are benefits and limitations with both decisions.  Companies that are socially responsible are taking away money that could be given to the shareholders and employees.  Companies that are against socially responsibility create a reputation as being cheap and selfish.

Corporate social responsibility increases long-run profits by adopting the community's expectations and desires and creating a good public image.  Society's expectations from a company would be producing quality goods at a reasonable price.  These actions also help to stimulate a favorable public image; the community will purchase more goods from a company who has fair prices and helps society.  Long-run profits will subsequently increase the stock price; this will satisfy the shareholders of the company.  Social responsibility is not only about satisfying the shareholders; therefore, a company must take part in bettering society as a whole.

When a company assists in its surrounding community, it is benefiting as well.  If the town is economically successful then there will be more spending money to purchase those company's goods and services.  Businesses have the necessary resources to help and support charitable venture.  These charitable contributions reinforce the previous idea of creating a positive public image.  A business can additionally use their resources to attack social and environmental problems before they become too large of a problem to solve.  Bettering the community will, in turn, better that corporation.  In contrast, some companies believe that the only obligation to society is turning out a profit.

A company's responsibility is to be successful; being successful contributes to the general wealth.  Money that the company makes is then cycled back into the economy when it makes investments, expands, and purchases other goods.  This circulation would eventually bring the money back to the consumers to spend and put back into the economy as well.  By a company existing and making money, the society not only benefits with the cycled money but also with employment and taxes.

In order for a company to operate at peak performance, it needs to hire employees.  One way a business can help society is by providing occupational positions and salaries.  Another way that assists society is having the company pay taxes; these taxes support programs that assist the lower income individuals and families.  Some companies believe that this is the only social contribution they need to be making while operating.

In conclusion, there are two different paths to take with the topic of social responsibility.  The first path has the company contributing its time and money into bettering society.  This way of business believes that the long-run payoff will be worth the current charitable sacrifice.  The latter path involves the company to do nothing extra, therefore, only concentrating on making a profit.  These types of companies believe that businesses already contribute to society and contributing more would take away from profits.  Both of these paths make valid points and its up to the company on which path it decides to take.