You Don’t Have To Be A Large Corporation To Be Socially Responsible In Business

Human beings are social by nature. We like to spend time with, talk with and work with, other people. This has been the case for tens of thousands of years. Every human being needs other people not only to survive, but to prosper and flourish.

Businesses are no different.

As an entity your business interacts not only with customers, but with other businesses. Suppliers are an obvious example, but there are also other organisations that you may collaborate with regularly or on an ad hoc basis. Much like individual people, each business has a measurable impact on every other person or organisation surrounding it.

Corporate Social Responsibility

You may have heard of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The term first became popular in the 1960s, but has recently become increasingly popular in certain circles. CSR takes the idea that every person is inherently social and has an impact on their surroundings, and then applies it to business.

Those who champion it argue that the word “responsibility” is key. They say that every business has a responsibility to ensure that the impact they make on those around them is a positive one. However, other people are concerned that it is a distraction from the primary role of businesses in the economy.

Whatever your view point, CSR has become too much of a big issue to ignore these days. It’s something that is constantly discussed and in our age of global brands and consumer scrutiny, many large corporations are finding it to be more of a requirement than an optional nicety. Customers worldwide are constantly holding businesses to account for their actions and often voting with their wallets.

What About Smaller Businesses

As a small business owner, your priorities are often completely different to big, global organisations. So what’s in it for you? Well, customers like to buy from companies that they believe are acting responsibly. If your business is deemed responsible it’s likely to attract new customers.

There are lots of different things you can do starting with something simple like implementing a car sharing policy for your employees, to donating to various environmental projects with every purchase. Amongst all their business news and tips, Veeqo has a great guide to CSR for small businesses.

Triple Bottom Line

The term triple bottom line is a concept used by the United Nations, among many other organisations. It is quickly and easily described by the words People, Planet, Profit. This concept helps businesses to focus on generating a positive impact on its employees, customers and other stakeholders (people); the environment (planet); and then the value generated by the business in the economy (profit).

This new definition is designed to prove that every business can operate in accordance with values that not only benefit other people, other businesses and the environment, but benefit the business itself, by allowing it to grow and flourish in the best way possible. Your business is no different. Start reaping the benefits today.