Many companies have social goals: they do something that others in society find useful and are willing

to pay for. But what is 'social'? How do we factor the social impact of companies and their contribution to sustainability? Companies also impact on communities. Particularly those that have a significant direct impact on the natural environment, such as mining or oil extraction, agriculture or heavy manufacturing. It matters greatly to those living near their operations how they are carried out and what degree of care is taken over impacts on health for example. Some companies, particularly mining and oil firms, may even create communities in order to operate. The living conditions of such workers are an inescapable part of the social responsibility of the company. The social impacts of removing communities or clearing land in order to operate are even more powerful. So the social impact of a large dam or other major infrastructure projects may be profound. At its worst, it can destroy lives; at best it will destroy a way of life. Human rights and labour relations also matter. Companies of all kinds have a role to play in ensuring that there is no discrimination in the way their staff are managed, promoted and trained, and that they have decent conditions of work. All these impacts are much easier to identify than measure. Measurement of social impact is hard because to reduce human experience to numbers is to fail to capture some part of it. This does not mean that any kind of measurement is useless. But it does mean that complacent reliance on a set of numbers is bound to seem unsatisfactory. There are a number of important social impacts that are much easier to measure, but about which companies are reluctant to be transparent. One of these is tax. The payment of tax is one of the most important contributions to society that most companies make. It is also one that they can be most secretive about - mainly because the countries in which they add value through their operations often bear little relationship to those where they are liable for taxes. However the social impacts of companies go far beyond even the kinds of substantive consequences listed above. At its broadest, social impact includes anything that affects company-stakeholder relationships: from how much and how reliably suppliers are paid (think supermarkets), to how a product affects lives (think Facebook). From how small shareholders may be treated to the impact of alcohol on health and communities. Nevertheless companies don't run our lives. Or do they? One of the stakeholder relationships that companies cultivate with great care is that with government and the state. This can be legal or illegal. In countries where corruption is most prevalent, the distortion of economic life has some of the most devastating social consequences possible. But where it is legal, and takes the form of lobbying, it raises questions about the role of companies in society. In a democracy, one would expect that people, rather than companies, should be the key influence on government. Yet the very phrase 'corporate citizenship' challenges that assumption. Changing the rules by which society operates leverages social impact beyond measure.

Companies have always been part of society. They should not be seen as a separate power that must be 'balanced' with society in a zero-sum kind of way in order to achieve sustainability. They should be seen more as the locus of productive activities that must be harnessed for the greater good of society as a whole. Understanding their social impact is an essential step in that process.