What is the Business of Business?

Here is one to think about. I have written a fair amount about business social responsibility here at ED Futures. Here is an article by McKinsey Quarterly that does a pretty good job of laying open the issue. This is very relevant to economic development.

By recasting the long-running argument about the role of business in society, companies can dislodge a debate that's now wedged between two seemingly incompatible points of view.

The relationship between big business and society can be viewed as an implicit social contract, with obligations, opportunities, and mutual advantages.

Large companies must take the lead in explaining their contribution to society. They should define their ultimate purpose in a way that is more subtle than "the business of business is business" and less defensive than most current approaches to corporate social responsibility.

It is time for big business to recapture the intellectual and moral high ground from its critics and to build social issues into strategy in a way that reflects their actual importance to companies.

Read the full article here at McKinsey Quarterly. (Free registration required.)