Business 6 (1) · Section 8

and dignity of people while advertising for a product. There is an element of voluntary action in performing this responsibility. (d) Discretionary responsibility. This refers to purely voluntary obligation that an enterprise assumes, for instance, providing charitable contributions to educational institutions or helping the affected people during floods or earthquakes.

It is the responsibility of the company management to safeguard the capital investment by avoiding speculative activity and undertaking only healthy business ventures which give good returns on investment. . SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS DIFFERENT INTEREST GROUPS Once the social objective of business is recognised, it is important to know to whom and for what the business and its management are responsible. Obviously, a business unit has to decide in which areas it should carry out social goals.

Some of the specific responsibilities and enterprise may be outlined as under: (i) Responsibility towards the shareholders or owners: A business enterprise has the responsibility to provide a fair return to the shareholders or owners on their capital investment and to ensure the safety of such investment. The corporate enterprise on a company form of organisation must also provide the shareholders with regular, accurate and full information about its working as well as schemes of future growth. (ii) Responsibility towards the workers: Management of an enterprise is also responsible for providing opportunities to the workers for meaningful work. It should try to create the right kind of working conditions so that it can win the cooperation of workers.

The enterprise must respect the democratic rights of the workers to form unions. The worker must also be ensured of a fair wage and a fair deal from the management. (iii) Responsibility towards the consumers: Supply of right quality and quantity of goods and services to consumers at reasonable prices constitutes the responsibility of an enterprise toward its customers. The enterprise must take proper precaution against adulteration, poor quality, lack of desired service and courtesy to customers, misleading and dishonest advertising, and so on.

They must also have the right of information about the product, the company and other matters having a bearing on their purchasing decision. (iv) Responsibility towards the government and community: An enterprise must respect the laws of the country and pay taxes regularly and honestly. It must behave as a good citizen and act according to the well accepted values of the society. It must protect the natural environment and should avoid bad, effluent, smoky chimneys, ugly buildings dirty working conditions.

It must also develop a proper image in society through