Roles and Responsibilities of Businesses

1. Chapter 20, Lesson 3 Roles and Responsibilities of Businesses

2. The Social Responsibility of Businesses • Businesses play several important roles in society. • As producers, they supply the food, clothing, and shelter we use to meet basic needs. • They also have a social responsibility, or an obligation to pursue goals that benefit society as well as themselves. • For instance, many businesses support schools with money or supplies. • Corporations give away about $14 billion each year for different causes. • Can you think of any examples?

3. Foundations • Some families and businesses establish foundations, institutions created to promote the public good, in order to raise funds or awareness of certain causes. • For instance, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, has donated over $23 billion through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. • It is not only the biggest American companies that give either. • About 75% of small companies also give money, products, or services. • Even some law firms and accountants provide free services to poor people or to nonprofit groups.

4. Responsibilities to Consumers • Laws require businesses to meet certain responsibilities, and business owners and managers may face serious problems or even legal action if they do not follow those laws. • Businesses must sell products that are safe and that work properly, and services must be reliable. • Many companies guarantee their products and services for a period of time. • Businesses also have the responsibility to tell the truth in their advertising and to treat all customers fairly.

5. Responsibilities to Owners • Another responsibility is to the stockholders, who are the owners of the business. • This is especially crucial for corporations, where the people who own the company are not the people who actually run it. • To protect stockholders, corporations have to release financial reports on a regular basis. • Revealing, or making public, this information is called transparency. • If a manager of a corporation is not honest in these reports, the government can prosecute them for breaking the law. • Part of the reason why this law was created was the Enron scandal.

6. Responsibilities to Employees • Businesses are required to maintain a safe workplace and to treat all workers fairly and without discrimination. • Decisions on hiring and firing as well as promotions must be based on the quality of the work the employees perform. • Many businesses try to help workers by providing benefits or services like money for college, child care, or fitness centers. • Health insurance is a benefit that many companies have traditionally given their workers. • Large businesses are actually required to offer health benefits to full-time employees, and the government offers tax credits to small businesses who do the same. • Helping workers in these ways benefits the employer as well as the worker. • After all, a worker in good health will be much more productive and miss less work!

7. Wouldn’t you like to work here?? • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QqT38QRA84