Social Policy Initiatives in Business

Social change has long been debated as a cocktail that has been forced down the throats of increasingly successful enterprise and businesses. The advocacy for incorporating the habit of giving back to the society has often invoked criticism and much backlash from businesses around the world. After all, it does violate the basic principle with which a business is set in motion- PROFITS!

However, this notion is changing faster than the MET department’s forecasts on the country’s monsoons. Social change and increased acceptance of major social issues is seeing businesses turn their eyes and focus on the impact their business has on the environment. And those who fail to adapt, have failed to stay functional and relevant any longer.

The day managers and senior brass stop seeing social responsibility initiatives as a burden and incorporate it as a cog in their machinery, will be the day when their organization will touch its true potential. The latest and greatest example of a company failing after a botching up its CSR priorities is Volkswagen.

The company completely ignored the environmental impacts of its vehicles and continued forward on the horribly wrong perception that their product would sell as long as they make good looking cars. But, these are not the 1900s where consumers feed on whatever the companies throw at them. We live in a business world that is highly competitive and increasingly volatile. People are more self-

aware than ever and care about their world and their environment more than ever before.

Brands and companies thrive and survive on differentiation and publicity. In the media and information age, hiding from the public glare is next to impossible. To portray one’s brand greater and better than the rest, one has to do things greater and better than the rest. Being a part of the crowd is no longer an option for modern businesses.

Gone are the times customers are silent spectators to a business or a multinational. Consumers want active participation in everything from what goes into the products they buy to where the raw materials are labour are sourced from. GAP and GANT, two US apparel giants came under fire when it was revealed that their factories in Bangladesh and India were employing underage labour and were not maintaining proper working conditions for them.

And these are not the times where any publicity is good publicity mantra holds true. CSR is equally if not more important than PR. This is the reason that new businesses have cropped up which help companies achieve their CSR goals effectively and innovatively.

Salesforce is one such company. Although it is an ordinary business working to generate revenue and profits, its business model is based on creating enterprise software which helps companies and brands monitor and interact with consumers, suppliers and other important stakeholders to a company. Realizing the worth and importance of social media, the company has come up with unique tools which help brands gauge public opinion about the brand and engage with customers to change their perceptions.

CSR is no good to any organization if it does not market it correctly. A company must ensure that the social commitments it is fulfilling be appropriately publicized in order to ensure that the consumer develops an emotional connect with the brand. It helps a brand engage with its prospects and build inter personal relationships which will prevent brand switching and increase customer loyalty. These are assets which are integral to any marketing manager’s portfolio.

Also, every business out there is continually working to lower costs and increase profits. However, tweaking and obsessing about operations alone will never bring costs down. Sustainability is the name of the game and CSR helps a business achieve just that. Using environment friendly materials, recycling methods and focusing on energy savings can help bring down those extra costs as well as contribute to the society in a big way.

Any business should focus on building it up for the future. But, what if there isn’t a future at all? Sustainability and giving back in proportion to what you take from the environment will help build a better future, where the company can function and perform. The cost benefit analysis of CSR will only point in the green in the long term. Thus, it is in the best interest of businesses to achieve social obligations and start believing in them. This is the only way they can hope to stay relevant in the future. Their actions will send out the message to the public and the government, which will decide if the public wants a future with the company or not.