Social Responsibility

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Introduction

Every business has an obligation to the society within which it operates. This obligation is meant for the improvement or benefit of the society, owing to the various activities conducted by the said business and their effects to society. The writer seeks to unearth the definition of this term as well as identification of its impact, while still looking at the recommendations.

Definition

Social responsibility is a societal obligation that is part of the responsibilities of a business, conducted for the good of society. This responsibility helps provide opportunities while trying to reduce the exposure of risks to society. In this regard, social responsibility can be looked at in three ways, that is, societal responsibility, environmental responsibility, and social entrepreneurship. Societal and philanthropic responsibility is tied to the obligation that businesses have in the improvement of the wellbeing and welfare of the society, owing to giving back to the community which provides a market for their products and services (Schaper et al., 2014). Procter & Gamble, for instance, provides education on sanitation and hygiene to the communities that it serves for the greater good (Procter & Gamble, 2020). In the process, the health and wellbeing of the community people is improved.

On top of this, environmental responsibility contributes to social responsibility. Owing to businesses at times being careless with how waste disposal and management is done, they are then required to maintain a clean and healthy environment through its enhancement and protection for the good of society. Small and medium-sized enterprises are mostly to blame, since together, they contribute to a greater portion of environmental impact (Schaper et al., 2014). An example of such responsibility can be seen in Unilever taking to the ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ initiative against plastic packaging (Unilever, 2020). It is looking to reduce the amount of plastic it produces by half by 2025. Social entrepreneurship is the approach of having social objectives met as opposed to financial profit being the focus. The business solutions developed help meet societal needs. The ME to WE movement uses technology and trade products for profit, while donating half of its profit to a charity (ME to WE, 2020). All these actions are basically for the good of the society.

Impact of Social Responsibility

Social responsibility, despite it being positively impacting to the society, is also negatively impacting to the management of the businesses. An advantage from social responsibility is that a business gets to give back to the community that has sustained its business through enriching society further. This helps balance the scale. At the same time, the business is able to gain from social responsibility given that this practice is strategic in marketing the business as well as showing a good ethical standing, thus helping gain trust with the people in society. A business is also expected to give back to the community since it has ample resources to support both itself and the community (Schaper et al., 2014). Another advantage of social responsibility is that SMEs are able to improve environmental outcome by their small but impactful ways. This means that the societal environment is appealing and improved even from small actions from the small businesses. The last advantage from social responsibility is the ability of social entrepreneurs to provide more innovative ways that are beneficial to society as well as providing better ideas that help improve business to the various business people. In the process, social responsibility becomes heavily impactful to society at large.

On the other hand, social responsibility brings disadvantages with it. First, social entrepreneurs struggle to acquire resources to make their innovative ideas available and adaptable by individuals and businesses, thus reducing their societal impact. At the same time, they lack the skills and knowhow required to access capital, which further inhibits their focus. Another disadvantage of social responsibility, in light of societal and philanthropic responsibility, is inability to maximize profits due to shifting of profits to social responsibility. Such a business is seen to be unwilling or lacking skills to be applied in social responsibility. This, in turn, may end up affecting profits and return-clients to purchase of goods and services if the society views this business as selfish (Schaper et al., 2014). One great disadvantage of social responsibility is the idea that businesses are aware of the need for environment and social responsibility at large, as well as the desire, but end up not performing socially. This increases the negative impacts socially and environmentally, and may end up affecting business while such businesses underestimate their impacts. On this note, social responsibility is both a gain and a loss for businesses.

Recommendations

Social responsibility can be done in a manner that balances the actions of a business, gaining profit while still managing to leave a mark on society. It is a good marketing strategy for businesses. Small businesses can take small steps in the right direction. This can be done through something as simple as using energy-efficient lighting and temperature-control in the office, as well as planting vegetation and flowers around the office to help clean the air. This is impactful environmentally. The business can decide to impact society in its own way and to the best of its ability (Schaper et al., 2014). The other way that social responsibility can work is if businesses engage the government and other accomplished organizations (could be a non-governmental organization) in acquiring financing for their innovative ideas and projects. This will help improve the society at large.

Conclusions

To summarize, social responsibility goes a long way in genuinely improving the lives of the communities within which businesses operate, especially the small and medium-sized enterprises. The lives of people within these communities improve while the businesses are able to place themselves better in the market, through indirect marketing strategies. It is only logical that a business gives back to the society that has been making business development, improvement and progress possible.

References

ME to WE. (2020). YOU.ME.US. ME to WE. https://www.metowe.com/Procter & Gamble. (2020). Community impact. Procter & Gamble, USA. https://us.pg.com/community-impact/Schaper, M., Volery, T., Weber, P., & Lewis, K. (2014). Entrepreneurship and Small Business: 4th Asia-Pacific Edition.

Unilever. (2020). Rethinking plastic packaging – towards a circular economy. Unilever. https://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/reducing-environmental-impact/waste-and-packaging/rethinking-plastic-packaging/#244-421040