SO CI A L RES PON S I BILI TI ES O F BU SI N ESS:According to Keith Davis, —Social Responsibilities refer to the businessman‘sdecisions and actions taken to reasons at least partially beyond the firm‘s directeconomic or technical interest“. To quote Andrews, —By social responsibility,we mean intelligent and objective concern for the welfare of society thatrestrains individual and corporate behaviour from ultimately destructiveactivities, no matter how immediately profitable, and leads in the direction of positive contribution to human betterment, variously as the latter may bedefined“. H.R.Bowen‘s observation on social responsibility is more clear and pointto the specifics of the concept. He suggests that business managers are bound to —pursue those policies, to make those decisions, or to follow those lines of actionwhich are desirable in terms of the objectives and values of our society“. Thus,as the above definitions indicate, the concern for the society on the part of managers imply a particular behaviour which is in line with the societalinterests. It suggests that they refrain from actions detrimental to the interests of the society.(1)RESPONSIBILITIES TO VARIOUS GROUPSIn a broad sense, business owes a lot to the various groups such as customers,employees, shareholders, government and the community at large in which itexists. These groups in the society are called interest groups‘ or ”stakeholder‘ inany modern business organisation. Let us examine how an organisation respondsin a socially responsible ways to cater to the growing demands of all theseinterest groups.(2)Towards The CustomersProduction and supply of quality goods and services at an affordable price in the primary responsibility of business. Customer service should be the motto of the business. It involves offering a fair deal to the customer by indulging in ethical business practice. Therefore, every manager in order to serve the customers inan effective way should restrain from making misleading advertisements aimed at deceiving theconsumer;giving wrong or false information about the ingredients, quality, origin,etc. of the product; entering into collusive agreements with other firms to exploit thecustomers;making false claims of being an authorized dealer / importer of certaingoods; andgiving misleading names to the products, etc.(3)Towards Em ployees proper election, training and promotion;recognition of the value of human resource;maintaining cordial relations with employees;recognition and encouragement of constructive unionism;fair wage in relation to the cost of living; better working conditions;initiating appropriate measures for the development of human resource;and increase in productivity and efficiency by recognition of merit, by
providing opportunities for creative talent and incentives.(4)Towards ShareholdersShareholders are the real owners of a corporation. In view of the several practical limitations for them in overseeing the day-to-day operations of the business, an organisation must strive to provide:security to their funds;a fair rate of return on their investment;correct information about the operations of the company; and proper appreciation of the value of their investment in the company byidentifying new opportunities that contribute for the growth of business. (5)Towards Creditor's / SuppliersCreditors or suppliers provide the necessary inputs to the business. Business has,therefore, certain responsibilities to them. The management can discharge itsresponsibilities towards this group by realizing the importance of maintaining good businessrelations withthem;meeting the payment obligations timely; providing true and correct picture about the financial aspects of thecompany; andhelping them grow along with the growth of the company, etc.(6)Toward s GovernmentGovernment provides various facilities for the development of business.Infrastructural facilities like roads, telecommunication, transport, banking,insurance are some of the facilities created by the government without which no business, worth mentioning can conduct its affairs smoothly. Therefore, businessalso in turn owes to the government in the following ways.Business enterprises should act like law-abiding citizens;Taxes and other duties should be paid timely and honestly;Compliance with the rules and regulations as stipulated by various lawsof the land; andSupplementing the governments efforts in the developmental activities,etc.(7)Towards Society at LargeAny business organisation can exist as long as it enjoys societal sanction. If itfails to safeguard the interests of the society, the pressure from various segmentsof the society mounts up. Such a situation eventually leads to the promulgationof various acts by the government. That is why, it is always desirable for the business to keep the government at bay. Some managements conduct their affairs in such a responsible way where governments intervention is notwarranted. For instance, the origin of several laws governing the businessorganizations may be traced back to the failure of business organisation in protecting the intensity of the various groups in the society. An organisation canact in a socially responsible way by: properly deciding the product policies in line with the national priorities;
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