B. Understanding details. Mark these statements T (true) or F (false) according to the information in the text.

1. Business has impacts on people and society.

2. Business and society gain when business strives to be socially responsible.

3. There are no negative business impacts on people and society.

4. Social responsibility is a worldwide expectation.

5. Social responsibility means that a company must abandon its primary economic mission.

Vocabulary tasks

A. Write the opposites:

B. Word families

Complete the chart:

C. Complete these sentences with a word from exercise A:

1. You should never ________ hope.

2. ________ business impacts on people should be corrected.

3. There are some positive ________.

4. Business’s competitive _______ is not weakened by taking on social tasks.

5. ________ responsibility has become a worldwide expectation.

6. The corporate form of business is capable of_______ economic growth.

Discussion

Choose one of these topics and develop it into an essay:

1. A corporation should be accountable for any of its actions that affect people.

2. Features of the modern corporation.

3. Social responsibility is a worldwide expectation.

Unit 17

Profits and social responsibility

Some studies seem to demonstrate that a good social performer also has a good record of profit making, which could be an example of “enlightened self-interest.” However, other research reports that the relationship between profits and social responsibility is sequential. Once the company is profitable, it can “afford” to be socially responsible in its actions. Others argue that being socially responsible attracts investors to the firm. The relationship between social responsibility and profitability is extremely complex and difficult to prove.

Long-run Profits versus Short-run Profits

Any social program – for example, an in-company child care center, a drug education program for employees, or the lending of company executives as advisers to community agencies – will usually impose immediate monetary costs on the participating company. These short-run costs certainly have a potential for reducing the company’s profits unless the social activity is designed to make money, which is not usually the purpose of these programs. Therefore, a company may sacrifice short-run profitsby undertaking social initiatives.

But what is lost in the short run may be gained back over a longer period. For example, if a drug education program prevents and reduces on-the-job drug abuse, the firm’s productivity may be increased by lower employee turnover, fewer absences from work, a healthier workforce, fewer accidents and injuries, and lower health insurance costs. In that case, the company may actually experience an increase in its long-run profits, although it had to make an expensive outlay to get the program started.

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1214