*DISCUSS THE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF A

BUSINESS TOWARDS DIFFERENT CLAIMANTS?

According to Adolph Berle social responsibility is defined as the managers responsiveness to public consensus.

There cant be the same set of social responsibility applicable to all countries in all times. These would be determined by customs, religion, traditions, level of industrialization etc.

* Claimant:A claimant is a person who has the power to claim a

benefit for the loss he has incurred.

* Different Claimants: Towards the consumer and the community. Towards employees and workers. Towards share holders and other business. Towards the state.

Production of cheap and better quality goods

and services by developing new skills, innovations and techniques. Locating markets and factories at proper places. Avoiding ostentation. Rationalizing use of capital and labour. Honouring contracts and following honest trade practices.

 Providing after sale servicing.

Providing to the community true , adequate and easily
intelligible information about its work .

Some important but dishonest trade practices are Making misleading advertisements calculated to deceive the
purchaser.

Misbranding of articles with respect to their material

ingredients , quality and origin.

Selling rebuilt and second hand goods as new.

* A fair wage to the workers which is possible

only when the business man is willing to accept a voluntary ceiling on his own profit. * Satisfying conditions of works and social security measures. * Good human relations(i.e,maintaining industrial peace etc.). * Increase in productivity and efficiency by recognition of merit by providing opportunities for creative talents.

* Arousing interest in share holders to gain high dividends so

that enough profits may be ploughed back for innovations and expansions.

* Fairness in relations with competitors. * Competition with rival businessman should be fair and healthy

* Maintaining impartiality towards political affairs. * Observing all the laws of the land which may have
the following objectives * To provide direction to economic and business life of the community * To provide safeguard against errant business practices. * To allocate limited resources according to social priorities and preferences * To implement rural uplift and secure balance development of the country.

Example: A company wants to set up a manufacturing plant in an area which has agricultural fields in it. So it has to pay a proper compensation to the people if it has to acquire the land for the construction. This is the social responsibility of the company and the people who are compensated are the claimants

* Enron Cooperation is a company which duped its share

holders(including employees) of 64 billion dollars in the year 2000 in a systematic and creatively planned accounting fraud popularly known as the Enron scandal. while the debts remained undisclosed.

* The company only showed its profits in the financial data sheets * The accounting of Enron corporation remained nontransparent * As the scandal unraveled the stock prices fell from $90 to just
pennies in the summer of June 2000.

* After this the board of directors were fired and new ones were
appointed to form Enron Creditors Recovery Corporation