Social Responsibilities of Businesses: Beyond Maximizing Profits

As well as making money businesses
also have social responsibilities
Do you agree or disagree

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Arguments in favour of fulfilment of social responsibilities of a business.....................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

Arguments in favour of fulfilment of social responsibilities of a business
I totally agree with the statement that a business has to fulfil the social responsibilities along
with making money. Social responsibility means that the business has to work towards the
betterment of the society and take measure that benefits the society and environment along
with maximising the shareholder value. Fulfilling its moral imperative of social responsibilities
also helps a business in achieving its prime directive which is maximisation of shareholder
value. As in this modern era, suppliers as well as customers prefer companies who adhere to
their environmental and social responsibilities(Sroka and Szántó, 2018). It will not be idealistic
to expect from businesses that they would direct all their activities for benefits of the society,
but the concept of social responsibilities is that they should try to maximise their profits by
working in a socially responsible manner. This means that to maximise the shareholder value
they should work in a way that is beneficial for all its stakeholders and the business should also
not ignore the interests of other groups like consumers, workers, etc. Social responsibilities are
generally a business’ sense of responsibility and the voluntarily duties carried out by the
business organisations that goes beyond the duties and activities dictated by law. The
arguements in favour of social responsibilities are-
Moral responsibility - A business’ existence depends on the society as it procures the resources
for its input from the society and disposes its production through output to the society. It
acquires its input like machines, manpower, material, etc. from the society and environment
and converts them into outputs that are sold as products or service in the society. As the
business uses various resources of the society, it should pay it back in terms of services that
would benefit the environment, consumers, workers and community as a whole(Voronkova
and et.al., 2020). Even the International Organization for Standardization states the importance
of a business maintaining a balance between enhancing their economic performance and
fulfilling their social responsibilities. To decrease their negative impact on environment,
business can use resources in an efficient way to limit their waste and reduce carbon footprint
and emission. And to adhere to their responsibilities towards people, they should ensure ethical
practices and policies for employees by offering fair opportunities and wages.