Three qualities of responsible business

BUSINESS is a tremendous engine that powers transnational economic development. This means social risks. It is no surprise, therefore, that business is a source of unease over the consequences of globalisation. Countless voices call against practices that create ecological perils, tolerate abuse of human rights, or commit fraud in supply chains. They call for business to embrace environmental sustainability and due diligence on health and safety.

These calls connect companies to a complex array of sociopolitical concerns over the question of profit. While profit is necessary for business to succeed, the issue of how business approaches profit is rife with controversy over the responsibility it assumes. The confusion that it stirs makes developing a modern sense of responsible business one of today's crucial challenges.

One major problem is that efforts to develop practical or strategic targets for responsibility far outpace the attention given its intellectual and conceptual development. This is not just an academic concern, as I have found thus far through nearly 100 in-depth interviews with owners of small businesses and senior managers in Fortune 500 companies and cooperatives (interviews that are a key part of the research for a book I am writing). These informed, on-the- ground voices work in a range of industries including high technology, organic foodstuffs, personal and household products, and clothing. I also interviewed senior managers in non-profits and legal and academic professionals, who keep a keen eye on business policy.