Business Social Responsibility

It is clear that the traditional objective of the companies in a capitalist economy, is the production of goods and services, which are devoted to the market, within a strictly economic rationality. However, the need to fulfill an ample commitment of social content gains significance every day. The truly successful business is not any more the one that has considerable economic profits, but the one that is appreciated by a society which nowadays pays attention to the ethics whereupon it is conducted and in the role that it plays for the social welfare and not only in the advantages of its products.

Business social responsibility is, in fact, an ample range of commitments. Certainly the company contributions to the market are part of those commitments, but they are also part of them the enforcement of the law, the economic development of the community, the respect to the human rights, the environment conservation and a healthy labor atmosphere.

The business responsibility with social development has many diverse aspects, from traditional philanthropy, based on charity and solidarity, to the engagement in enterprises of great social impact.

There are many associations that seek to improve the quality of life of the population, without profit intentions. their scope is enormous: providing food, medicines, clothing and shelter or to supply medical, legal, educative, cultural and even recreational services, for people who suffer from some disadvantages, almost always related to poverty. they are the handicapped, the abandoned minors and elders, the drug addicts and the delinquents in social re-incorporation processes, to mention some. its reach also includes low cost dwellings, environmental protection, preservation of the wild flora and fauna and several other aspects.

In Mexico, there are more than 20,000 organizations of this kind, and this is surely a relatively small number, in comparison to other countries. To support these institutions, that depend fundamentally on donations, is a way to fulfill the business social responsibility, but perhaps it is not the best one.

Frequently, a company can give a better service to the community, doing precisely what it better knows to do: to produce goods and services. Besides doing it with quality and right price, which meets by itself an important part of its social responsibility, it can take its products to communities that do not have access to them through the market. The program that the Ministry of Social Development recently implemented with some cement factories, to put concrete in dwellings with floors of soil, is a good example, which proves that with relatively moderate investments large benefits can be obtained.

But to be successful, it is necessary, or at least advisable, the co-participation between government and private associations. thus, the private companies do not need to stray from their original activities, to embark themselves into unknown or to invest in research in order to locate the suitable population to be beneficiary of their actions or to determine the most urgent needs of a community. There are many governmental institutions that have the means for it and thus, adding efforts, the benefits multiply.

It is also important to orient these actions to productive tasks. The old protectionist vision is changing in favor of searching for the necessary conditions for a kind of development that includes every one and gets along well with nature. Without despising the aid devoted tasks, that often represent the only way of attending a specific problem, as usually happens in situations of natural disasters, the certain thing is that the efforts that are devoted to generate wealth and not only to distribute it, often multiply their benefits.

At times not so distant, the Mexican governments experienced development formulas that do not correspond to the economic paradigms of today. The governmental apparatus grew without limits and invaded fields which provoked protests from the private sector, although when doing it, it acquired a commitment that perhaps was not properly valued at that moment: the creation of the necessary job positions to achieve the well-being of the Mexican population. In fact, the private sector has not comply with its commitment.

We cannot forget that in a market economy, the private business is the main creator of productive employment. Nevertheless, employment is an asset that every day becomes scarcer. Certainly, the decrease of the positions of jobs, signifies a great deal more than the increase of unemployment and the consequent weakening of the market. besides the difficult economic situation, unemployed people suffer a decrease in their self-esteem, and in their interaction with their family and community.

However, the formulas to increase employment, should not reduce labor costs, in detriment of the quality of life of workers and their family. It is not enough to create employment; it is necessary that it is good. Instability of the labor relations, that is to say, the substitution of stable employment by fragile occupations, is not compatible with the business social responsibility. The Law is not to the service of the Economy. Human rights are over it.

The International Labor Organization has been developing the concept of “decent work”, which is intimately tied to the dignity of the human race. By decent work we understand an employment of quality, respectful of the labor rights, with social protection. A company cannot tolerate discrimination by reason of gender, ethnic origin, religion, age, civil status, political convictions or social condition. The security of having a job is part of a high-quality employment, requiring certain continuity or stability of the labor relation and narrowly linked with professional qualification. protecting life, health and physical integrity of a worker is a social demand. The social dialogue, the union freedom, the collective bargain and the participation of the workers in the decisions that affect them, are also conditions of a decent work.

Although these are not times to attribute faults, but to add efforts. A company has a social commitment to fulfill and the Government must generate the propitious conditions so that it can be achieved. Both, they should find those points in which   the market and the social tasks can coincide, thus generating mutual benefits. Poverty, after all, is the market worse enemy.

Unfortunately, in not few occasions we realize that the efforts of the companies to promote social development, contrast with decisions whose short- term economic rationality neglects the human condition. The same companies that one day grant great contributions for charity works, dismiss hundreds or thousands of workers and haggle over not only their labor rights but also their dignity. A company that does not worry to guaranteeing the essential rights of those who are part of it, cannot presume its philanthropy, but its cynical behavior.

In order to meet its social responsibility in an appropriate manner, A business owes, among other things, maintain and increase employment; respect the work norms and promote adequate labor conditions; promote professional qualification and contribute to its workers education; promote the access to information, the participation and the collective bargain; pay taxes and, in general, comply with its legal and contractual obligations; preserve the environment, contribute to the social development, fortify the internal market and provide goods and services with high quality standards and fair price.

In this tasks, A business lawyer has a fundamental role to play. Deserving the confidence of his client he is, often, the one who can better orient him, but not only to close A juicy business, but also to fulfill his social responsibilities. A lawyer who fully satisfies his ideals with the triumph in the courts or the successful celebration of a very profitable contract, in spite of unmerited fees that he may have earned, will continue being a poor lawyer. By his professional formation, which is necessarily tied to justice and to equity, the lawyer cannot ignore social unfairness.

October, 2001.