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| Thoughts-On-Brew |
“The business of business is business”
–
this could have been an apt statement a few decades ago when business leaders
were primarily concerned about economic profits. Social responsibility seemed
too amorphous a concept that pro-business critics preferred to shrug off their
shoulders. The focus was predominantly (and solely) on profits. This business
paradigm dominated most of our history that followed the industrial revolution.
The plumes of smoke that rose into the air – were considered as harbingers of
prosperity and a symbol of success. Nobody thought it relevant to question the
limiting factors that circumscribe our natural wealth.
However,
things began to change until a few years ago when instances of corporate greed
came to light. Infamous among them being the multinational corporations, such
as Nike – for its sub-standard labour policies that forced children to work
under harmful conditions in shoe assembly units in South East Asian countries; Union-Carbide
for the Bhopal gas tragedy in India, and its relentless effort to evade responsibility
for the damage it caused; Monsanto – for promoting DDT as a one-stop solution,
coercing the world into depending on hazardous chemicals that would have long-term dangerous
consequences on our ecosystem; Wal-Mart – for its discriminatory employee
policies in U.S. that made waves in 2005; Exxon-Valdez – for the massive
oil-spill that was responsible for catastrophic environmental disasters; British
Petroleum – for its oil spill off Mexico Gulf in 2010 that raised eyebrows on
safety of such operations; Tepco – the Japanese nuclear company that was operating the
Fukushima nuclear power plant – that endangered human lives in an unprecedented
way.
Many
such examples of corporate greed, callousness and unethical practices exist and
they all point out a few serious questions, the biggest of them all being – Is the business of business ONLY business?
Realization seems to have dawned on us. Society has started raking underlying issues and asking
questions revolving around Responsibility - Who is responsible for the social and environmental
damage? - and Accountability - Who must pay
for these costs? Who needs to be penalized?
Over
the last few years, these developments have somewhat shattered the corporate
belief that social and environmental responsibilities are concerns of the State (or Government). In today’s business paradigm, corporate cannot pass away these
responsibilities to others. These changes have brought about new dimensions in the
business world. Industry needs to be sensitive to all its stakeholders.
Large
scale industrial projects have come under a scanner - a world-wide trend that
has been fed by a 24*7 active television set and social media on internet. So,
in effect, something that was getting largely ignored for a long time has come out
to be the real inseparable determinants of business longevity – Environment and
Society.
Thus,
in the new paradigm, the business of business is NOT only business but also to
ensure that business is socially conscious and
This
has also spelled opportunities for proactive organizations to take lead and
design innovative practices to build trust and confidence among stakeholders. Building
nurturing relationships with key stakeholders has become the new mantra for
building a sustainable competitive advantage for businesses. The focus has
shifted from mere technology to 'technology that cares' about the environment through energy efficiency, green buildings, renewable energy, low carbon technology, etc.
This has opened up vast opportunities for sustainability innovation – that is
concerned with developing products that are eco-friendly.
While
companies are getting along this sustainability agenda by publicly reporting
their sustainability performance, much needs to be done to bring about a momentum. This would need both corporate initiative and state-level intervention.
G V P Rajan is Vice President (Sustainable Strategies) at ThinktoSustain.com and can be reached at rajan@thinktosustain.com.
Follow @gvprajan
Follow @gvprajan
