Social Responsibility Company Q\'s Current Attitude Towards

Social Responsibility

Company Q's current attitude towards social responsibility is not positive. Social responsibility is "an obligation, beyond that required by law, for a business to pursue long-term goals that are good for society" (Riley, 2012). Company Q. has not demonstrated through any of its actions or policies that it subscribes to this philosophy. Its current approach demonstrates the company's policy with respect to the food bank is of particular concern, because there is no economic value associated with throwing that food away. It is evident that the company's excuse for not donating is quite flimsy, and any such concerns could easily be controlled by the company. There is no ethical issue with closing the stores, as the company has to operate profitably. Closing a store should be based on the long-run economics of the location. The company likewise does not get any credit for offering organic products, because that was simply a response to its customers and is strictly a business transaction.

1. There are three areas where the company could improve its attitude towards social responsibility. The first is that the company should draft a policy statement that defines its position on corporate social responsibility. That it has no such position at present leaves it open to significant criticism, but also having a position on social responsibility at least provides some guidance with respect to decision making in these types of situations (Duff, 2012). The statement would help the company to define the different stakeholder groups as well, thereby providing a framework for evaluating ethical scenarios. The current decision-making process might not even take into account the different stakeholder groups because management simply has not thought of them. By thinking about how the company affects the world around it, management might get a different perspective of the responsibility that it has.

The second area where the company could improve its attitude towards social responsibility is with its decision-making. The company seems to be making decisions based strictly on the bottom line. This is not entirely without precedent in the business world, but such an approach does not reflect good corporate social responsibility. The company should take an approach that focuses not just on its economic bottom line but on social bottom lines as well. This approach would allow for decisions to be made that reflect a wider range of positive outcomes. The issue with the food bank illustrates this clearly. The current solution only sort of takes the bottom line into account, and nothing else. The company does not "win" or receive any benefit from its actions, and nobody else does either. An approach that emphasized creating positive benefits on multiple bottom lines would at least provide the company with an opportunity to help some stakeholders, and in this case it could do so without any damage to the financial bottom line.