Business and Society

The following sections are included:

• Series Editors’ Foreword
• Preface: Motivation for this Book
• Preface by the Series Editor: Emerging Discourse on Business and Society Symbiosis in India
• About the Editors
• Acknowledgments
• Contents

Business can be a for-profit, not-for-profit or hybrid organization. But all these businesses focus on the satisfaction of their stakeholders. Although many businesses adopt a limited perspective of their stakeholders, focusing primarily on the interests of their investors, customers and, in some cases, their employees, it is a fact that the long-term sustainability of any business will depend on its contributions to the society. The long-term objective of all businesses is to serve and support the society and contribute to the socioeconomic development of their people. Therefore, this chapter presents a comprehensive review of the relationship between business and society, with special reference to the three main types of businesses: commercial businesses, social enterprises and non-governmental organizations. As in the case of biological systems, the relationship between business and society may be characterized predominantly by one of the three types of symbiotic relationships: mutualism, commensalism and parasitism. However, the successful co-existence of business and society, in the long run, would depend on the degree of mutualism in their relationship.

The fast-phased, multi-cultural, tech hub Bangalore accounts for the largest number of the country’s start-ups and the recent study reveals that many of these are having social liability and account for the consistent increase in the number of social enterprises compared to other parts in the country. The existence of the social entrepreneurial ecosystem is the main reason for uplifting the status of Bangalore to the start-up capital of India. Social enterprises are businesses where the surpluses are reinvested for the benefit of society rather than profit maximization. This study focuses on two main components of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Bangalore, i.e., supporting structure and government regulations, which help social enterprises to multiply in this city. Secondary data from various sources are used for this study. The study reveals that Bangalore’s favorable ecosystem such as funding, training, incubation centers and strong government interventions makes it possible for social enterprises to start, grow and nourish.

Social entrepreneurship works as building blocks for an alternative model, in a situation where both market and state have failed to provide adequate social goods. Social entrepreneurship serves humanity’s most pressing needs by providing social goods, such as education, health services, adequate housing, recreational facilities and participation in political decision-making. Social entrepreneurship is growing as an independent area of research because it reorients and broadens third sector forms. This study uses the case study method and analyzes two cases of social entrepreneurship in the Bengaluru area. The focus is on how social entrepreneurship affects the lives of the people who are its beneficiaries. Development theory, referring to development sociology and development economics, provides a suitable base to carry the analysis of changes in the lives of social entrepreneurship’s beneficiaries, i.e., the people who are associated with social entrepreneurship and receive their services or goods. This sociological inquiry uses the capabilities approach to observe capabilities and functionings of the beneficiaries and whether social entrepreneurship has a role in providing them with choices or freedom to better their lives.

Social enterprises have intense interaction with their local communities and “are explicitly committed to generating social value in perpetuity” (Katz & Page, 2010). They bring cohesiveness and trust to their host communities and they are the civil society’s way of becoming the “primary stakeholders” (Cornwall, 2003) in development agendas. These are the aspects of societal living that Ostrom (2008) demonstrates through her research on local self-reliance and the development of a concerned civil society, which takes initiative for the management of its own resources. The analysis done in this chapter demonstrates the interplay of the social enterprise and public policy. Ostrom’s (2008) framework of seven design principles, which provide a normative reference for local self-governance initiatives, is mapped onto four social enterprise cases, selected for their extent of community engagement and self-regulation. This chapter follows a case-based methodology, with an analysis of four diverse types of social enterprises, within the Indian context. A discussion of the design principles, within the social enterprise framework, is followed by the analysis of these cases. Each of the enterprises has a different level and style of community engagement and we use the design principles to demonstrate the effectiveness of their community participation. The case analysis demonstrates a way for policymakers to integrate and support the social enterprise as a crucial part of participatory development. Moreover, it aids entrepreneurs in evaluating the degree to which their host communities are invested in a truly participatory experience.

The emerging literature has been trying to provide an all-embracing definition for the concept of Social Entrepreneurship (SE) or the role of Social Enterprises (SEs). SE is a process by which citizens build or transform institutions to advance solutions to social problems by adopting enterprise strategies. It is a “creative destruction” that spurs innovation and economic change. SEs aim to solve many unaddressed growing societal problems in developing economies. In the above context, this study attempts to compare the social entrepreneurial activities across Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS), considered as the big five emerging economies in early 2000. This study attempts to track the target activities of SE in the development of these countries. This study also aims to explore the role of SEs focusing on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study uses published reports, research articles and papers as sources. This study provides a comparison of socio-economic data of the BRICS block to identify the magnitude of the development challenge. In addition, the existing and past political systems of the block are compared to infer the role of SE initiatives. The comparison across the BRICS nations identifies that if the socio-economic data are unfavorable, it indicates the presence of social gaps and policy failures. In addition, the fastest-growing countries may experience widening gaps and environmental pressures, resulting in the emergence of SEs. This study provides a better understanding of SE initiatives and their contribution to the emerging economies. This study revealed that social enterprises are actively focusing on achieving SDGs in the BRICS block except for Russia. They have chosen fundamental issues causing inequality of income, gender, education, health, clean water, sanitation, clean energy, etc. This study indicates that the emerging economies may consider encouraging the SEs to solve many pressing issues.

Social entrepreneurship, a prominent feature of 21st century society, brings innovative solutions to pressing social problems. Social enterprises use understandable and easily implementable ideas. They enroll local change makers. They seize opportunities others miss. India has 40% of the world’s poor. Rural India is lagging in terms of basic facilities of clean water, toilet facilities, education, and medical and health care. The girl child in India is also sidelined in terms of educational opportunities, health and nutrition. Very few women are promoted to top positions on account of the conventional perception of them being family nurturers rather than company leaders. The researchers seek to study how social enterprises can uplift farmers, rural craftsmen and girls in India. The researchers interviewed three entrepreneurs, namely Mustafa Harnesswala (agrotourism), Srikant Gayakwad (Selfie for Cause to promote poor girl child education) and Prasanna Priya Reddy (Saree Story helping skilled weavers fleeced by middlemen). They also accessed secondary sources to study how social enterprises can improve rural India. This study will help other aspiring entrepreneurs understand how they can contribute toward the inclusive growth of the country. It shows how to find opportunities and creatively use resources and technology in order to come up with cost-effective, eco-friendly products and services.

The fundamental idea behind CSR is that corporations have duties that go beyond lawful execution of their economic duties (Steiner & Steiner, 2009). The waning hold of states over powerful transnational corporations and the increasing recognition of the potential of corporations to contribute to the welfare needs underline the importance of CSR in contemporary society. It is believed that a good CSR strategy would lead to significant reductions in business risks, including stakeholder, regulatory or marketplace sanctions. India being the first country to make CSR mandatory recognizes the potential of firms to synergize with the state in achieving larger developmental causes. This chapter is an attempt to review the CSR contributions toward public health during COVID-19. This chapter analyses the ways in which corporate social responsibility could contribute toward value creation in society and proposes a community-based convergent model of CSR implementation.

The objective of this chapter is to study whether fixing social responsibility on entrepreneurs will benefit the society and ensure sustainability of his/her business and resources of the society. Analysis of recent key studies and available statistics is made. This chapter is based on exploratory research made through use of empirical studies, analysis of relevant key reports and available statistics. The cases where corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate governance may be misused threatening the interests of the public at large are included. The gap between business houses, society and essential practice of reporting for filling such gaps is also discussed.

Absence of effective waste management measures leads to multidimensional consequences like environmental pollution, spreading of epidemics and land degradation. Along with an increase in waste generation, there is no corresponding increase in waste management measures in India. Innovative methodologies are required for addressing waste management and related issues. This chapter intends to develop an innovative waste management model for India. The authors reviewed the literature on waste management models across the globe with a focus to devise a waste management model suitable for India. The authors proffer a six-level Social Enterprise–Government–Private (SEGP) partnership for municipal solid waste (MSW) management. The focuses of various levels of the model are the reduction of plastic use and waste minimization, helping the poor, waste sorting at source and transferring it to colored waste bins, development of waste collection infrastructure, revenue generation from waste and development of waste management infrastructure. The revenue generated from the SEGP model will overcome the funds’ deficiency-related problems of the government for waste management. The model intends to address the core objective of MSW management with a focus on solving a set of social challenges, such as poverty alleviation, unemployment, pollution and contamination of rivers and oceans.

Diaspora networks across the globe think of their homeland, which makes them continuously assist various projects that have public–private partnership ventures. Many of the members of the Indian diaspora had difficult times during their childhood in their native country. The conditions were not favorable within India prior to Indian Independence for acquiring desired skills in entrepreneurial activities. However, they managed to sail through the rough sea and reach the western coast in great adversity. The journey itself was a training for the early diaspora that resulted in learning the skills needed for setting up their business in the adopted countries. Indian diaspora from various developed countries have learned a great deal about the local culture, new skills in business partnership, consultancy services, research and innovations in technology that helped them to prosper in the adopted land and implement those ideas in their home country as a part of social remittances and giving back to the society. Developed countries have exhibited the feasibility of sustainable development through social entrepreneurship. Compulsory community service that trains people in new skill development also educates them in preserving the environment in which they reside. The public–private partnership model, which is in practice in developed countries, has become the agent of creation of social entrepreneurship with accountability toward the society. Diaspora communities that send social remittances to their home countries not only in the form of money but also ideas, identities and behaviors help set up public– private models of undertakings that would ensure sustainable growth in the long run. Philanthropic work is reckoned in the Public–Private Partnership (PPP) model that we see in various parts of India, especially in states like Punjab (Sikh diaspora), Kerala (Malayali diaspora) and Gujarat (Gujarati diaspora). In this background, this chapter tries to examine the Indian diaspora’s schemes in India on the model of public–private partnership that they had either set up or observed in their adopted countries. This chapter also looks into how far diaspora remittances in totality help mitigate the existing problems in Indian villages, create new job opportunities for the local population, manage skill development centers and educate the masses in preserving the environment that would help in sustainable development through social entrepreneurship.

The global wellness industry is seeing a major shift in its relevance and growth post COVID-19. The fast-growing wellness industry is driven by organizations of all sizes and scope: large, medium, small and micro enterprises offering a range of services from holistic wellness offerings to focused services, such as beauty, spa, alternative therapy, gym and physical fitness. While we have heterogeneous businesses on the supply side, we have the entire global population on the demand side. Due to the size of the market and growth potential, the competition in wellness service space is intense. In such a situation, it is a challenge to register growth and sustain the same. The challenge is more pronounced for micro-entrepreneurs due to their limited resources and reach. It calls for a strategic approach to managing the businesses to endure the competition and succeed. Hence, wellness businesses are adopting Strategic Management Practices (SMPs) in greater numbers. However, not all strategies work. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of significant SMPs adopted by micro-entrepreneurs on business sustainability in the wellness industry. Responses of 392 microentrepreneurs from the wellness industry are recorded and analyzed for the SMPs adopted by them for the economic, environmental and social sustainability of their businesses. The study identified various strategic approaches that are implemented by micro-entrepreneurs in Mysore District and studied the impact SMPs had on sustainability factors of the wellness industry. A model is proposed to support the study. The results conclude that the application of a good amount of SMPs in the form of strategic entrepreneurship enhances the sustainability of a venture as well as the industry, aiding transformation from an unorganized to an organized sector and better regulations.

Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs in which they develop, fund and implement solutions for social, cultural or environmental issues in an innovative way. According to the United Nations Survey, Indians waste 1.3 billion tons of food every year when 870 million people starve all over the world (UN Report 2013, https://news.un.org). One-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year (approximately 1.3 billion tons) gets lost or wasted. India is the second largest food producer covering 10.04% of the total world’s food production. But India ranked 97th among 118 developing countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) calculated in 2016. The amount of food wasted every day in India is very high, comparable to the total hungry people. So, to address this social problem, the venture was initiated to minimize food wastage and serve the hungry and needy. The data collected by interviewing the entrepreneur were interpreted and presented in the report. It was found from the study that “No Food Waste Social Project” so far served around 15 million plates of excess food till date which is worth Rs. 25 crores and weighs about 5,000 tons from surplus food recovered, and during COVID-19, 8,35,468 plates were served to the poor and needy as a part of COVID-19 relief activities.

The changing consumption patterns and sustainability considerations of tourists encouraged ecotourism across the globe. But without the appropriate management and planning systems, tourism in ecologically sensitive areas could threaten the harmony of ecosystems and local cultures. Tourism projects/models that stress local community ownership and control can maximize environmental and fiscal benefits and empower the community through tourism practices. Mawlynnong, nicknamed as “God’s Own Garden,” is a village in the East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya acclaimed as the “Cleanest village in Asia” by Discover India in 2003. This case study contributes to the understanding of community practices for the development of tourism within the social and cultural milieu. Participant observation, interviews and secondary sources are used for this study. The results show that cleanliness, aesthetic beauty, matrilineal societal system, empowered women and girls, education, heritage, local community-tourist engagement and basic infrastructure paved the way to a viable tourism development of the society. This sustainable model explores how a holistic and participatory process can bring substantial changes in local communities by creating livelihood, maintaining the natural environment, spreading the message of protection and conservation of the ecosystem, stabilizing local economies and increasing community control.

Social audit is an effective tool to evaluate the social performance of any social program. It helps in finding out how well the social enterprise is aligned to achieve its social mission by taking a multi-perspective outlook of the key stakeholders. This chapter presents a social audit of Stree Mukti Sanghatana, Mumbai (SMS), which is one of the pioneering social organizations working for the empowerment of underprivileged women. One of its social programs is the Family Counseling Centre (FCC) which provides counseling services to victims of domestic violence. Over the last 32 years, it has counseled more than 25,000 clients who are mostly victims of physical or mental domestic violence. The objective of this social audit was to find out the perceptions of both internal and external stakeholders of this program and make suggestions to improve the same. It is based on an empirical study using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. The results show that FCC has been successful in creating awareness about women’s legal rights and has empowered them to tackle the problems by becoming self-reliant and confident. This study also helped SMS to realign its focus on building economic empowerment of women.

In recent years, it is mandatory for profitable organizations in India to work toward Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Many thinkers in the industry have appreciated the move of the Indian Government by mandating profitable businesses to take responsibility for society by sharing certain portions of the profit made by these organizations. This study focuses on various initiatives taken by BOSCH India Foundation (BIF) for socio-economic development and value creation through its CSR activities. The primary data are collected by conducting interviews with the senior-level managers working in the CSR department of the Bidadi plant. The data are also collected by visiting the field of action, discussing with various stakeholders and observing their initiatives. The secondary data are collected from published sources and official records of the company. This case study shows that BOSCH India Foundation is focusing on the development of the villages in Bidadi. Their CSR initiatives focus on education, agriculture and livestock development, health and hygiene, environment, women empowerment, youth development and access to potable water. This study analyzes the economic and social impacts it has created in the society. The case provides new insight for researchers and students about the CSR approaches and best practices which can be a model for companies working on CSR projects.

Social enterprises are not-for-profit or for-profit organizations that work for the development of the community in different ways and are sustainable through their products or services. One such initiative of social enterprises is supporting and promoting agriculture and agricultural products. This chapter focuses on two social enterprises, Uravu and Buffalo Back, which work with farm products and their role in promoting sustainable agriculture practices. The primary data are collected through personal interviews with top-level managers, and secondary data are collected from websites and other published documents. This study looks at the concept of sustainability in terms of finitude, fragility and fairness. These two case studies explain how social enterprises promote the development of agriculture. The former organization ensures the community’s livelihood through farming support, upgrading local knowledge, technologies, skill development and marketing their commodities. The latter focuses on promoting farmers to focus on sustainable organic farming techniques and selling their products to customers. This study can help future entrepreneurs understand different models they can use to develop the agricultural sector through their social actions.