The company should be aware of its impact on the surrounding community (communities).
Negative: externalities. Ought to be avoided at all costs (while maximising short-term profits they impact long-term community relationships). Ecological issues like noise and air pollution are at the forefront of such worries.
Negative: layoffs. Large-scale downsizing can destroy entire communities, as the company pursues profit-oriented strategies and shifts production abroad.
Negative: moral/ideological "pollution". In his previous movie, "Bowling for Columbine" Michael Moore talks about the effects that Columbine defence contractors (like Lockheed Martin) have on the psychology of the people living there. Surrounded every day (and for decades) with the reality that everyone around them is building Weapons of Mass Destruction, city inhabitants have undergone a mild psychological change, that has made them more prone to violence.
Positive: supporting local education/sports. Increasing numbers of companies become involved in local education support initiatives, as well in supporting local sports teams. Rationality for such actions varies, but we can expect that a company wants to: - Build a better climate around its base of operations; - Build community awareness; - Develop a stronger community for its employees that work and live in the neighbourhood; - Avoid taxes :P;
Positive: community conscience. Some companies might want to "steer" their surroundings in specific ways that will be of benefit to a much wider population. A company might try to impose its own values.
Positive: health support. In economic systems where health support is financially-dependent or unsatisfactory, companies might decide to provide: - Health plans for its workers; - Health-oriented projects for the wider community;
Consider: during my 2006 trip to india, I tried to give some money to a beggar on the streets of New Delhi. I was quickly persuaded NOT to do that, as one of the Indian businessmen accompanying me explained: - Giving money to ONE beggar is a waste of money. He/she will eat the money away and no TRACE will be left. - Those that want to AFFECT a much wider number of people INVEST money in simple projects, like digging up a water well with a hand-operated pump. That way a much larger COMMUNITY of beggars will benefit from having access to clean water.
Environment
Environmental issues have been at the forefront of media campaigns, protests, anti-globalisation organisations. The key promoter of ecological awareness is: GREENPEACE. Read more about the leading NGO here
The modern ecological campaigns have grow in strength due to Greenpeace's successes,a nd now multiple organisations and associations follow in its footsteps.
Greenpeace as a movement acquired CREDIBILITY, when the French sunk its flagship, the Rainbow Warrior. The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Operation SATANIC, was a special operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), carried out on July 10, 1985. It aimed at disabling the flagship of Greenpeace, the Rainbow Warrior, in the port of Auckland, New Zealand, to prevent her from interfering in a nuclear test in Moruroa. [Wikipedia] Read more here
