Est1 Task 1

Company Q and Social Responsibility

By Jared Hoenstine

In today's marketplace, the premium placed on contributing to the community in which a company operates may be higher than it ever has before. The prevelance of social media and twenty-four hour news outlets has created an enviroment where lapses in social responsibility by any company, large or small, can quickly gather huge amounts of attention and coverage. Company Q is no exception. The company has taken actions in their recent history that have caused extra attention to their business model and their role in the community. Reviewing those actions can help the company gain a greater understanding into how how the community views them and how that could effect their business. The lessons learned from that review can also provide insight in to what actions the company can take to improve their standing and thus improve the relationship with the community they serve.

In it's recent history company Q has made decisions that have called into question their commitment to their community. These include closing stores in higher crime areas, making few healthy and organic alternatives available to their customers, and declining to donate older products to the local food bank. These are all items that can be construed as being inattentive to community around them. Company Q has been negligent in showing customers that that they take their responsibilities as a member of the community seriously.

Closing stores in high crime areas creates the perception that the company is not interested in serving communities that are of low to medium income. However, company Q is right to take into consideration that stores that have low sales and to shed the weight that these stores can have on profitibility for the company. The company has a responsiblilty to shareholders to be profitable and must always take that under consideration. Expressing to the community the closing these stores will allow them to keep...