BUSINESS A business can be defined as an organization that provides goods and services to others who want or need them.

When many people think of business careers, they often think of jobs in large wealthy corporations. Many business-related careers, however, exist in small businesses, non-profit or ganizations, government agencies, and educational settings. Furthermore, you don 't need a degree in business to obtain many of these positions. In short, every sector of our economy needs people with strong overall skills that can be applie d to business-type SOCIETY Whenever we talk of anything, we often use the word society. If you wear a coat and a half pant, at once the others would say, what the society would think of y ou. In other words, we always care for the society. In fact, what is society? So ciety means, a group of persons. That is all. When we think of the society, we r espect the society and try to live in accordance with the society. The fact is t hat is no society at all. Each and every one makes the society. If you take a gr oup of people, there would be persons with different ideas and views. It is alwa ys difficult to implement the suggestions by the society. Since many persons hav e many suggestions, practically it is not possible for us to follow them. We hav e to decide the right views and suggestions from them and if it is possible, we can try to follow them to certain extent. If you are happy, the society would be there to share your happiness. But at the same time, you cannot expect the so c alled society to be with you when you are in trouble. There would be no one to h elp you, except the persons who are really interested in you personally. But we cannot call them as society. There are people who look after them only. There ar e people who care for others. We cannot depend the society for our help. Even a blind man has to wait for a long time to cross the road. It would not be possibl e for him to cross the road unless he finds a person, who can help him to cross the road. There are only a few people, who offer help to others. We have to be v ery kind and we must have the helping tendency to others. There are many factors in helping others.This is one of the reasons that it is a problem to find perso ns who have the desire to help. At the same time, we cannot blame them also. Sin ce it is their duty to collect all the needed informations, we cannot avoid them also. We should keep our mind fit to face all these, while helping others. If we think and live in this style, we can see a very good helping society soon. BUSINESS ETHICS Business ethics is the behavior that a business adheres to in its daily dealings with the world. The ethics of a particular business can be diverse. They apply not only to how the business interacts with the world at large, but also to thei r one-on-one dealings with a single customer. Many businesses have gained a bad reputation just by being in business. To some people, businesses are interested in making money, and that is the bottom line. It could be called capitalism in its purest form. Making money is not wrong in i tself. It is the manner in which some businesses conduct themselves that brings up the question of ethical behavior. Good business ethics should be a part of every business. There are many factors to consider. When a company does business with another that is considered unethi cal, does this make the first company unethical by association? Some people woul d say yes, the first business has a responsibility and it is now a link in the c hain of unethical businesses. Many global businesses, including most of the major brands that the public use, can be seen not to think too highly of good business ethics. Many major brands h ave been fined millions for breaking ethical business laws. Money is the major d eciding factor. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Social responsibility of business refers to management decisions and action take n for reasons at least partially beyond the organization direct economic or tech

nical interest. The concept of social responsibility is merely in growing stage towards social effectiveness of business. It is the philosophy which justifies b usiness involvement in its community. The simple fact is that business is a soci al institution. In the operation of pluralism many groups influence business. According to Bowen H R Social Responsibility of Businessmen, 1953 It is the obligation of businessmen to pursue those polices, to make those decisi on, or to follow those lines of action which are desirable In terms of objective s and values of society CONCEPT OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY We all know that people engage in business to earn profit. However, profit makin g is not the sole function of business. It performs a number of social functions , as it is a part of the society. It takes care of those who are instrumental in securing its existence and survival like- the owners, investors, employees, con sumers and government in particular and the society and community in general. So , every business must contribute in some way or the other for their benefit. For example, every business must ensure a satisfactory rate of return to investors, provide good salary, security and proper working condition to its employees, ma ke available quality products at reasonable price to its consumers, maintain the environment properly etc. However, while doing so two things need to be noted t o view it as social responsibility of business. First, any such activity is not charity. It means that if any business donates some amount of money to any hospi tal or temple or school and college etc., it is not to be considered as discharg e of social responsibility because charity does not imply fulfilling responsibil ity. Secondly, any such activity should not be such that it is good for somebody and bad for others. Suppose a businessman makes a lot of money by smuggling or by cheating customers, and then runs a hospital to treat poor patients at low pr ices his actions cannot be socially justified. Social responsibility implies tha t a businessman should not do anything harmful to the society in course of his b usiness activities. Thus, the concept of social responsibility discourages businessmen from adopting unfair means like black-marketing, hoarding, adulteration, tax evasion and chea ting customers etc. to earn profit. Instead, it encourages them to earn profit t hrough judicious management of the business, by providing better working and liv ing conditions to its employees, providing better products, after sales-service, etc. to its customers and simultaneously to control pollution and conserve natu ral resources. BUSINESS ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Large organizations or publicly held companies often use corporate governance to promote business ethics and social responsibility. This governance creates the framework of policies, procedures, and guidelines for all individuals financial invested in a company. Sometimes, an industry group can give awards to companies to promote a cause wit hin a field of business. Corporate social responsibility awards can be given by industry leaders to draw attention to or raise standards in a certain area of so cial responsibility.

FORCES THAT SHAPE THE BUSINESS AND SOCIETY RELATIONSHIP

The figure above shows the six dynamic forces that powerfully shape the business and society relationship. These dynamic forces, the constant changes in ethical and societal expectations, the global economy, government policies, natural env ironment, and technology create the setting in which businesses interact with th

eir many stakeholders such as employees, customers, stockholders, suppliers, cre ditors, communities, media, governments, and others. This relationship between b usinesses and society is continually changing in uncertain ways.

THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS IS TO INCREASE ITS PROFITS The discussions of the "social responsibilities of business" are notable for thei r analytical looseness and lack of rigor. What does it mean to say that "busines s" has responsibilities? Only people can have responsibilities. A corporation is an artificial person and in this sense may have artificial responsibilities, bu t "business" as a whole cannot be said to have responsibilities, even in this va gue sense. The first step toward clarity in examining the doctrine of the social responsibility of business is to ask precisely what it implies for whom. Presumably, the individuals who are to be responsible are businessmen, which mea n individual proprietors or corporate executives. Most of the discussion of socia l responsibility is directed at corporations, so in what follows we shall mostly neglect the individual proprietors and speak of corporate executives. In a free-enterprise, private-property system, a corporate executive is an employ ee of the owners of the business. He has direct responsibility to his employers. That responsibility is to conduct the business in accordance with their desires, which generally will be to make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in et hical custom. Of course, in some cases his employers may have a different object ive. A group of persons might establish a corporation for an eleemosynary purpos efor example, a hospital or a school. The manager of such a corporation will not h ave money profit as his objective but the rendering of certain services In either case, the key point is that, in his capacity as a corporate executive, the manager is the agent of the individuals who own the corporation or establis h the eleemosynary institution, and his primary responsibility is to them. The corporate executive would be spending someone else s money for a general soci al interest. Insofar as his actions in accord with his "social responsibility" re duce returns to stockholders, he is spending their money. Insofar as his actions raise the price to customers, he is spending the customers money. Insofar as h is actions lower the wages of some employees, he is spending their money. The stockholders or the customers or the employees could separately spend their own money on the particular action if they wished to do so. The executive is exe rcising a distinct "social responsibility," rather than serving as an agent of t he stockholders or the customers or the employees, only if he spends the money i n a different way than they would have spent it. But if he does this, he is in effect imposing taxes, on the one hand, and decidi ng how the tax proceeds shall be spent, on the other. This process raises political questions on two levels: I. Principle principle II. Consequences principle Political principle The imposition of taxes and the expenditure of tax proceeds are governmental func tions. We have established elaborate constitutional, parliamentary and judicial p rovisions to control these functions, to assure that taxes are imposed so far as possible in accordance with the preferences and desires of the publicafter all, " taxation without representation" was one of the battle cries of the American Revo lution. We have a system of checks and balances to separate the legislative funct ion of imposing taxes and enacting expenditures from the executive function of c ollecting taxes and administering expenditure programs and from the judicial func tion of mediating disputes and interpreting the law. Here the businessmanself-selected or appointed directly or indirectly by stockhol dersis to be simultaneously legislator, executive and, jurist. He is to decide whom to tax by how much and for what purpose, and he is to spend the proceedsall this guided only by general exhortations from on high to restrain inflation, improve the environment, fight poverty and so on and on.

The whole justification for permitting the corporate executive to be selected by the stockholders is that the executive is an agent serving the interests of his principal. This justification disappears when the corporate executive imposes tax es and spends the proceeds for "social" purposes. On grounds of political princip le, it is intolerable that such civil servants insofar as their actions in the na me of social responsibility are real and not just window-dressing should be selec ted as they are now. This is the basic reason why the doctrine of "social responsibility" involves th e acceptance of the socialist view that political mechanisms, not market mechani sms, are the appropriate way to determine the allocation of scarce resources to a lternative uses. Consequences principle The corporate executive in fact discharges his alleged "social responsibilities? " On the other hand, suppose he could get away with spending the stockholders o r customers or employees money. How is he to know how to spend it? He is told that he must contribute to fighting inflation. How he to know what action of his is will contribute to that end? He is presumably an expert in running his compan yin producing a product or selling it or financing it. But nothing about his sele ction makes him an expert on inflation. Will his hold in down the price of his pr oduct reduce inflationary pressure? Or, by leaving more spending power in the han ds of his customers, simply divert it elsewhere? Or, by forcing him to produce l ess because of the lower price, will it simply contribute to shortages? Even if he could answer these questions, how much cost is he justified in imposing on his stockholders, customers and employees for this social purpose? What is his appro priate share and what is the appropriate share of others? WHAT IS BUSINESSS RESPONSIBILITY TO SOCIETY? Businesses and consumers need each other. Consumers want the products and servic es that businesses provide, and businesses know that without consumers they have no reason to exist. Thats one of the reasons laws specifically written to protec t consumers should be of interest to both businesses and consumers. Educational efforts in the consumer protection arena often focus on providing co nsumers with information on how to protect themselves from unscrupulous business practices. But business owners and managers also need consumer-protection infor mation to both serve their customers better and to steer clear of potential prob lems with regulatory agencies. However, obtaining information that is specifical ly geared to business is often difficult. BUSINESS AN IMPORTANT PART OF SOCIETY The exchange of goods and services can benefit all. Consumers can obtain goods a nd services that can t grow, raise, manufacture themselves or do for themselves. Providers can make reasonable return and thing can be mutually good for all til l these events happen: consumer becomes too dependent or non self-sufficient, ad vertising becomes as bad as Marx predicted, Government takes more than services provided or pass laws to aid few. Some would hold that a business is a solution for creating value among many peop le who voluntarily contribute time, risk and resources with the intent of enrich ing themselves. Good justification that this is important along three facets: 1) Businesses create opportunities with information from many individuals, makin g the deployment of assets more efficient and more effective than what a governm ent can do. 2) Businesses, since they are sanctioned as legitimate activities by a governmen t, allow for a government to control the business activities so that they confo rm to social norms and needs it can also be taxed as a source of revenue for the government. 3) Businesses are the fastest way to stimulate innovation in that people are mor e willing to take risks to develop new technologies is they sees the incentive o f being able to capture the value resulting from their efforts and risk taking o

n uncertain ideas. Moreover, existing businesses, when threatened by the presenc e of potential new businesses, ideally, should increase their own improvements i n value creation through innovation of their existant products. This arms race b enefits everyone in society. EXPECTATIONS OF BUSINESS TO SOCIETY 1. Set rules are clear & consistent. Society must define what boundaries organiz ations should operate within; what minimum standards are to be expected, met or exceeded; what the performance criteria are. Society must be consistent in its e xpectations for corporate social responsibility through the various governmental regulations affecting this area . 2. Make sure rules perspective, not retroactive. There is a present trend toward retroactivity in an attempt to force retribution for the past to make todays rul es apply to yesterdays ball game. 3. Make sure are economically feasible& recognize that society itself must be pr epared to pay the cost not only of their implementation by business but also thei r administration by government. 4. Keep the rules within the bounds of technical feasibility. Business cannot do the impossible. However, many of todays regulations are unworkable in practice. 5. Make rules goal seeking, not procedure prescribing. Tell organizations what t o do, not how to Do it. Level it to American industrial ingenuity to device the best, most econom ical, & efficient way to get there. WHY SHOULD BUSINESS BE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE? Social responsibility is a voluntary effort on the part of business to take vari ous steps to satisfy the expectation of the different interest groups. As you ha ve already learnt, the interest groups may be owners, investors, employees, cons umers, government and society or community. But the question arises, why the bus iness should come forward and be responsible towards these interest groups. Let us consider the following points: i. Public Image - The activities of business towards the welfare of the soc iety earn goodwill and reputation for the business. The earnings of business als o depend upon the public image of its activities. People prefer to buy products of a company that engages itself in various social welfare programmes. Again, go od public image also attracts honest and competent employees to work with such e mployers. ii. Government Regulation - To avoid government regulations businessmen shou ld discharge their duties voluntarily. For example, if any business firm pollute s the environment it will naturally come under strict government regulation, whi ch may ultimately force the firm to close down its business. Instead, the busine ss firm should engage itself in maintaining a pollution free environment. iii. Survival and Growth -Every business is a part of the society. So for its survival and growth, support from the society is very much essential. Business utilizes the available resources like power, water, land, roads, etc. of the soc iety. So it should be the responsibility of every business to spend a part of it s profit for the welfare of the society. iv. Employee satisfaction - Besides getting good salary and working in a hea lthy atmosphere, employees also expect other facilities like proper accommodatio n, transportation, education and training. The employers should try to fulfill a ll the expectation of the employees because employee satisfaction is directly re lated to productivity and it is also required for the long-term prosperity of th e organisation. For example, if business spends money on training of the employe es, it will have more efficient people to work and thus, earn more profit. v. Consumer Awareness - Now-a-days consumers have become very conscious abo ut their rights. They protest against the supply of inferior and harmful product s by forming different groups. This has made it obligatory for the business to p rotect the interest of the consumers by providing quality products at the most c

ompetitive price.

Expectation of society to business 1. Society deserves that goods and services thus provided by the business should make available to the people at declared quality & standard. 2. Goods & services thus provided by the business should be made available to th e people at Reasonable price. 3. Society desires that business as their inputs will buy raw materials from the society at Reasonable price. 4. Society desires that natural resources will be rationally used over times not exploit them hurriedly to deprive the future generation. 5. Society desires that business employ their unemployed persons in exchange of fair wages &healthy working conditions. 6. Society wamts business should make available goods& services either through p roduction or through transfer from outside. 7. Society desires that business as an organization & the employee of the busine ss must not be 8. Involved in antisocial activities which may pollute the social climate. 9. Society desires that resources available in the society will be used by the b usiness in such a Way that will easier the income & living standard of the society. 10. Society desires that business should conducts their operations keep the envi ronmental Pollution to the minimum. 11. Society desires that business should develop social audit for organizational appraisal & provide feedback to them. 12. Society desires that business will make available newer technologies either through innovation or through imports from outside. 13. Society desires that business should behave like a good citizen and should r ecognized in its decision-making the interest of the society in general. 14. Society desires that business should be responsive to the opinions of the in formed section of the society. 15. Society desires that business should pay proper regard to the environmental and social consequences of business activity.i.e pollution, product obsolescence , harmful packaging, dumping wastage over exhaustion. 16. Society desires that business should upheld the interest of the society as r egard health, hygiene, safely and efficiency over short term objective of enhanc ing profitability. 17. Society desires that business should maintain non-discriminatory employment policies. 18. Society desires that business should recognize the importance of esthetic va lues in the design and appearance of its factories, offices and in its use of la nd including avoidance of dirt, ugliness and dereliction. Responsibility Towards Different Interest Groups After getting some idea about the concept and importance of social responsibilit y of business let us look into the various responsibilities that a business has towards different groups with whom it interacts. The business generally interact s with owners, investors, employees, suppliers, customers, competitors, governme nt and society. They are called as interest groups because by each and every act ivity of business, the interest of these groups is affected directly or indirect ly. Responsibility of Business Towards Different Interest Groups: i. Owners ii. Suppliers iii. Customers

iv. v. vi. vii. viii.

Society Competitors Investors Employees Government

i. Responsibility towards owners Owners are the persons who own the business. They contribute capital and bear th e business risks. The primary responsibilities of business towards its owners ar e to: Run the business efficiently. Proper utilisation of capital and other resources. Growth and appreciation of capital. Regular and fair return on capital invested ii. Responsibility towards investors Investors are those who provide finance by way of investment in debentures, bond s, deposits etc. Banks, financial institutions, and investing public are all inc luded in this category. The responsibilities of business towards its investors a re : Ensuring safety of their investment, Regular payment of interest, Timely repayment of principal amount. iii. Responsibility towards employees Business needs employees or workers to work for it. These employees put their be st effort for the benefit of the business. So it is the prime responsibility of every business to take care of the interest of their employees. If the employees are satisfied and efficient, then the only business can be successful. The resp onsibilities of business towards its employees include: Timely and regular payment of wages and salaries. Proper working conditions and welfare amenities. Opportunity for better career prospects. Job security as well as social security like facilities of provident fund, group insurance, pension, retirement benefits, etc. Better living conditions like housing, transport, canteen, crches etc. Timely training and development. iv. Responsibility towards suppliers Suppliers are businessmen who supply raw materials and other items required by m anufacturers and traders. Certain suppliers, called distributors, supply finishe d products to the consumers. The responsibilities of business towards these supp liers are: Giving regular orders for purchase of goods. Dealing on fair terms and conditions. Availing reasonable credit period. Timely payment of dues. v. Responsibility towards customers No business can survive without the support of customers. As a part of the respo nsibility of business towards them the business should provide the following fac ilities: Products and services must be able to take care of the needs of the customers. Products and services must be qualitative There must be regularity in supply of goods and services Price of the goods and services should be reasonable and affordable. All the advantages and disadvantages of the product as well as procedure to use the products must be informed do the customers. There must be proper after-sales service. Grievances of the consumers, if any, must be settled quickly. Unfair means like under weighing the product, adulteration, etc. must be avoided .

vi. Responsibility towards competitors Competitors are the other businessmen or organizations involved in a similar typ e of business. Existence of competition helps the business in becoming more dynamic and innovat ive so as to make itself better than its competitors. It also sometimes encourag es the business to indulge in negative activities like resorting to unfair trade practices. The responsibilities of business towards its competitors are i. not to offer exceptionally high sales commission to distributers, agents etc. ii. not to offer to customers heavy discounts and /or free products in every sal e. iii. not to defame competitors through false or ambiguous advertisements. vii. Responsibility towards government Business activities are governed by the rules and regulations framed by the gove rnment. The various responsibilities of business towards government are: Setting up units as per guidelines of government Payment of fees, duties and taxes regularly as well as honestly. Not to indulge in monopolistic and restrictive trade practices. Conforming to pollution control norms set up by government. h. Not to indulge in corruption through bribing and other unlawful activities. viii. Responsibility towards society A society consists of individuals, groups, organizations, families etc. They all are the members of the society. They interact with each other and are also depe ndent on each other in almost all activities. There exists a relationship among them, which may be direct or indirect. Business, being a part of the society, al so maintains its relationship with all other members of the society. Thus, it ha s certain responsibilities towards society, which may be as follows: to help the weaker and backward sections of the society to preserve and promote social and cultural values to generate employment to protect the environment to conserve natural resources and wildlife to promote sports and culture to provide assistance in the field of developmental research on education, medic al science, technology etc. Following are the various responsibilities of business towards the different int erest group as discussed above. Protection of environment. Better living conditions like housing, transport, canteen, crches etc. Promotion of sports and culture. Opportunity for better career prospects Regular supply of goods and services Proper working conditions and welfare amenities Goods and services at reasonable and affordable price. Prompt after sales services. Conservation of natural resources and wildlife. CONCLUSION There is no gainsaying the fact that, the importance of business and society. Tw o things are depends on one to another. Without business we cannot think societ y. From society business expects many thing and society may also. Business activ ities are important because most people need jobs and come to certain towns for those jobs and if there is no business most like there won t be any people becau se people also need business to supply there necessities. Society must define wh at boundaries organizations should operate within; what minimum standards are to be expected, met or exceeded; what the performance criteria are. Society must b e consistent in its expectations for corporate social responsibility through the various governmental regulations affecting this area. Businesses create opportu nities with information from many individuals, making the deployment of assets m

ore efficient and more effective than what a government can do. REFERENCE 01. Business Ethics- Dr. A R Khan 02. www.scribd.com 03. answers.yahoo.com 04. www.eurofound.europa.eu Areas of expertise 05. asksg.spinelink.com/.../are-business-people-more-important-to-society-th an-artists/ - Cached