The purpose of companies is to manufacture and offer products and services and thus also to generate profits.
The latter are primarily necessary in order to invest: in employees, in the company, in new business areas and ideas.
Companies therefore assume a great responsibility for society.
But is that enough?
No.
Today, companies must not only act in an economically rational manner in order to be successful, but also have social acceptance and trust in their problem-solving skills for social issues.
After all, in our economic system, they are also tasked with allocating resources to society as a whole.
They are the ones who decide where, how and under what conditions production takes place.
In doing so, they act under public scrutiny.
If they ignore and disregard social expectations of fair and desirable behavior, their “license to operate” is withdrawn.
This is then expressed in stricter legal requirements, a loss of reputation or even a consumer boycott.
This is what happened in 2013 when the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh made the public aware of how catastrophic working conditions are in the fashion industry and how carelessly natural resources and entire ecosystems are treated. [print_link]
