CSC Essay3
Disclaimer: Someone at IBM asked me to post this for the benefit of those who are applying for Corporate Services Corp next year. This post in not meant to bore you or give any funda. Its just my way of giving back to my team at IBM. I had written this long essay, however at the time of submission I realized that the word limit was in Characters and NOT words. Nevertheless, having written the essay, I thought that it would be a good idea to publish it here! Content Copyright- Anil Kumar
What, in your opinion, is the role of business in society? In particular assess if, how and why businesses should address core societal, environmental, educational and governance issues
Veeru is in his village in North India and is rushed to the community hospital. He has sustained severe injuries in a fight that brewed between him and his neighbour over a bucket of water. It is the year 2030 and the river Ganges has dried up and the monsoon rains did not provide enough water to sustain the masses. There is chaos everywhere with acute shortage of food, water and other resources.
Now consider a different scenario, it is the year 2030 and Veeru is happily playing with his daughter. He is planning a road trip to the nearby hill station on the Shivalik ranges on his eco friendly car. He dreams of an excellent future for his daughter and is happy with the quality of life. He is sure that the human race will survive for many more centuries.
Just imagine the stark difference in the above two scenarios. Either of these two scenarios could be our future depending on how we take up the challenges that we face today. The need of the hour is to address the issues facing the world in a unique collaboration between all stakeholders such as societies, governments and businesses.
The fortunes of businesses are interwoven in the fortunes of the society. When society prospers, it will create ample opportunities for businesses in the form of demand for goods and services, increased consumption and new investment opportunities. Thus societies act as catalyst for economic growth and business engage with the society for their own good. The social engagement enables enterprises to understand the problems and challenges facing the society. The enterprises take clues and try to solve the problems and challenges. The society in turn rewards the enterprise for their innovation which further boosts productivity and fosters capital and wealth creation.
Businesses need the raw materials and resources which are regulated by the government policies. Governance issues such as crime rate, duties, taxes, traffic congestion, wars affect business operations. Traffic congestions for example cause loss of precious fuel and productive time. Businesses have an interest in solving such issues. IBM’s Smarter Cities is a strategic win-win initiative wherein both IBM and society mutually benefit from better governance, reduced traffic congestion and reduced crime rate.
The growth of businesses is depended on the availability of skilled and efficient workforce. Many times the university curriculums are not in sync with needs of businesses. This leads to increased training time resulting in a higher cost for businesses. Businesses stand to gain a lot by investing in training and research and development activities in universities. These new research findings provide a trigger for innovation. Many progressive organizations across the globe have partnered with the likes of IIT, Harvard, Stanford, and MIT for top notch research. IBM has also established strategic tie up with various universities to boost its research portfolio in the areas such as Supply Chain Management and Hi Tech. Although the governments across the world are trying their best to provide quality education to all its citizens, often the resources and skill level the governments are not adequate and must be supplemented by inputs from the business. Hence, businesses have supported programs such as Teach for America and Teach for India, which aim to bring the light of quality education in the lives of thousands of children. Indeed this is strategic move in creating a talented human resource pool and is a great opportunity for businesses to give back to the society and invest in its future human capital.
Businesses must address social issues because an empowered society empowers growth for businesses. The investment in social issues create a positive brand image of the company and increases sense of pride amongst the employees and thus helps in retaining talent in a better way. For example, IBM is one of the first companies to promote equality irrespective of race, sex or sexual orientation. This move boosted IBM’s image as a forward thinking employer and has gone a long way in retaining talent. Hindustan Unilever’s Project Shakti, empowered rural women and improved the lives of 45,000 women in 100,000 villages in India. HUL trained these rural women to become sales representatives for its products and achieved sales of $100 million overcoming the high cost of operation in rural India through innovation and by investing in elevating the economic status of rural women in India. This is the kind of innovation and partnership that is required between businesses and societies to prosper together in the new and changed world.
What, in your opinion, is the role of business in society? In particular assess if, how and why businesses should address core societal, environmental, educational and governance issues
Veeru is in his village in North India and is rushed to the community hospital. He has sustained severe injuries in a fight that brewed between him and his neighbour over a bucket of water. It is the year 2030 and the river Ganges has dried up and the monsoon rains did not provide enough water to sustain the masses. There is chaos everywhere with acute shortage of food, water and other resources.
Now consider a different scenario, it is the year 2030 and Veeru is happily playing with his daughter. He is planning a road trip to the nearby hill station on the Shivalik ranges on his eco friendly car. He dreams of an excellent future for his daughter and is happy with the quality of life. He is sure that the human race will survive for many more centuries.
Just imagine the stark difference in the above two scenarios. Either of these two scenarios could be our future depending on how we take up the challenges that we face today. The need of the hour is to address the issues facing the world in a unique collaboration between all stakeholders such as societies, governments and businesses.
The fortunes of businesses are interwoven in the fortunes of the society. When society prospers, it will create ample opportunities for businesses in the form of demand for goods and services, increased consumption and new investment opportunities. Thus societies act as catalyst for economic growth and business engage with the society for their own good. The social engagement enables enterprises to understand the problems and challenges facing the society. The enterprises take clues and try to solve the problems and challenges. The society in turn rewards the enterprise for their innovation which further boosts productivity and fosters capital and wealth creation.
Businesses need the raw materials and resources which are regulated by the government policies. Governance issues such as crime rate, duties, taxes, traffic congestion, wars affect business operations. Traffic congestions for example cause loss of precious fuel and productive time. Businesses have an interest in solving such issues. IBM’s Smarter Cities is a strategic win-win initiative wherein both IBM and society mutually benefit from better governance, reduced traffic congestion and reduced crime rate.
The growth of businesses is depended on the availability of skilled and efficient workforce. Many times the university curriculums are not in sync with needs of businesses. This leads to increased training time resulting in a higher cost for businesses. Businesses stand to gain a lot by investing in training and research and development activities in universities. These new research findings provide a trigger for innovation. Many progressive organizations across the globe have partnered with the likes of IIT, Harvard, Stanford, and MIT for top notch research. IBM has also established strategic tie up with various universities to boost its research portfolio in the areas such as Supply Chain Management and Hi Tech. Although the governments across the world are trying their best to provide quality education to all its citizens, often the resources and skill level the governments are not adequate and must be supplemented by inputs from the business. Hence, businesses have supported programs such as Teach for America and Teach for India, which aim to bring the light of quality education in the lives of thousands of children. Indeed this is strategic move in creating a talented human resource pool and is a great opportunity for businesses to give back to the society and invest in its future human capital.
Businesses must address social issues because an empowered society empowers growth for businesses. The investment in social issues create a positive brand image of the company and increases sense of pride amongst the employees and thus helps in retaining talent in a better way. For example, IBM is one of the first companies to promote equality irrespective of race, sex or sexual orientation. This move boosted IBM’s image as a forward thinking employer and has gone a long way in retaining talent. Hindustan Unilever’s Project Shakti, empowered rural women and improved the lives of 45,000 women in 100,000 villages in India. HUL trained these rural women to become sales representatives for its products and achieved sales of $100 million overcoming the high cost of operation in rural India through innovation and by investing in elevating the economic status of rural women in India. This is the kind of innovation and partnership that is required between businesses and societies to prosper together in the new and changed world.
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