Business -- Economics Business Expectations and Community

Business -- Economics

Business Expectations and Community Involvement

Successful businesses bring many things to the communities in which they are located. Because they are successful and profitable they are often admired by most of the people that reside near them. The question at hand is whether these businesses should concentrate less on their maximization of profit and instead use some of their resources to give back to the communities. It would seem as though the answer to this would be a resounding "yes." Unfortunately, not all businesses are willing to do this.

Many businesses only have interest in how much profit they can make. They are not concerned about those around them, and they certainly do not give things back to the community. These businesses fail to realize some things. First of all, by using raw materials and resources from the community, potentially polluting the air of the community if the business is a factory or some other such entity, residing on land in a particular community, and employing people who live in the community and sometimes are required to work hard for long hours and little pay, the business is already taking a great deal from the community.

In return for everything they take, many businesses do not give anything back. They do not make the effort to pay their employees an extra bonus around Christmas time, reduce their potential pollutants so that the children of employees and others in the community don't have to breathe harmful fumes, or make sure that the surrounding forest areas where they have cut down a great number of trees have been replanted so that trees will grow there again.

Obviously, not every business needs trees, and not every business pollutes the air. These are only some examples of some of the ways that businesses take from communities and do not reap what they sow. Many of these businesses continue to thrive. Either those who live near them do not realize the effects that the business is having on the community, or the business is so large and important to the community's economy that boycotting it or attempting to get it to relocate would be worse on the community then what the business is already doing to it.

However, there are businesses out there that are concerned about their communities. They provide health insurance at inexpensive rates to their employees, they make sure that anything they put into the air or the water is not going to be harmful to those who live around them, they plant flowers around the front of their business to make the neighborhood more beautiful, and they may sponsor the local Little League team so that they can get good uniforms and good players and attempt to go to state championships this year. It would be nice if more businesses did these kinds of things.

For those businesses that do, the rewards are often great. Even if someone formerly did not purchase a specific good or service from this business, is hard to ignore how involved in the community and gracious a business like this is. By giving some of their profit away to do things for the community, they actually make more profit than they would have if they would have just kept all of their original profit for themselves. This is because the things they do to improve the community not only make people feel good about the business, but they encourage people to purchase from a business who is obviously so interested in helping out in the community.

Businesses that do not give back to their communities fail to realize that often it does not take a great deal of money to make the surrounding neighbors feel as though they have been given something. While the businesses that do not give to the communities feel that doing so would cut into their profits, it is easy to argue that they are only looking at the short-term. For example, if a business is expecting to make $100,000 in profits, and they take 10,000 of that and spend it on advertising, uniforms, and other amenities for the local Little League team, all they can think about in the short-term is that they lost $10,000.

Technically, this is true. What they fail to realize, however, is that the $10,000 investment they just made in the Little League team will bring them much more than $10,000 over the long-term. They have not lost that money; they have simply invested for the future. Not only will be Little League children and parents appreciate what they have done, but they will tell all of their friends and neighbors in the community what the business has done. Word-of-mouth is some of the most effective advertising, both good and bad.

Not only will the individuals in the community talk about what the business has done but the Little League team will travel to away games in nearby towns. All of those people will see that there is a business in the next town over that has cared enough to spend money on its community. This will be noticed by those who attended the game, and it will be talked about between those people and others that they meet in their communities. The good deed that this business has done will spread like a ripple through a pond, and the farther out it spreads the more revenue will ultimately return to the business. Businesses that are stingy because they don't want to cut into their profits right now often actually lose more profit in the future.