Term Papers on To What Extent Are Businesses Aware Of Their Social Responsibilities? Can Busine

Term Paper Title	To What Extent Are Businesses Aware Of Their Social Responsibilities? Can Busine
# of Words	852
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.41

To what extent are businesses aware of their social responsibilities? Can businesses be environmentally responsible and still make a profit?

Businesses have always been expected to adhere to general, though ill defined, standards of good conduct. But the idea that companies should follow principals who might benefit society while not directly improving their bottom line only began gaining ground in any significant way in the 1980s. Some ethical businesses make a point of caring for the environment, others of not using child labor from the developing world, or paying more attention to the welfare of their workers. Care for the environment has become a major policy of many ethical businesses. Corporations are at least openly acknowledging that they have a far wider level of responsibility to the society as a whole. Corporate rhetoric is of course not always matched with immediate action and some companies see going green as primarily a marketing and public relations exercise rather than acknowledging the Importance of integrating environmental decision making in all aspects of business planning and operations. This position goes on to further argue that businesses are aware of their social responsibility and can be environmentally responsible and still make profits.

In order to understand this question better, let us first look at what is sustainable development. Sustainable development can be defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their won needs” (cited in World Commission, 1987). In other words, sustainable development is that the basic needs of all are met and that all should have opportunity to full fill their aspirations for a better life (cited in journal of Business Ethics, pp157—168, 2001). According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, sustainable development is the integration of economic development with environmental protection and social equity.

There are four levels of sustainable development efforts for businesses, basic level of behaviour, current attainable level of behaviour, practical level of behaviour and theoretical level of behaviour. In addition, Business communities have largely adopted the Brutland Commission definition of sustainable development, such as Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. While the term Ecologically sustainable development preferred by many environment organisations is far more rigorous, the relatively rapid acceptance of the concept of sustainable development, by the corporate sector still heralds a major shift in corporate ethics. Less than a decade ago the prevailing corporate view was that the true and only social role of business organisations was to make profits and o...

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