Commentary to Anita Roddicks statement.

Ghozy Ul Haq A1502329

Lapland UAS Arctic Summer School

A good business should be part of society, and you have to have pride in what you
do. Theres no pride in making millions of pounds, but there is pride in helping people
and the environment.

I agree with Anitas statement about the business should be part of society. As we know,
the main goal of making business is to get profit as much as possible. However, one
important thing to realize is that our business success or our profit comes not only by
ourself. There are many people contributed and helped us, for example, our employees,
business partners, distributors, and also our customers. In a simple word, our business
becomes success and profitable because of the society. As we got something from society,
we also need to contribute to society also. About pride, making millions of money it is
always something we can proud of. However, this kind of pride it is only for ourselves or
maybe for some of the company investors or shareholders and not for other people. In order
to get the pride acknowledged by other people, to be remembered as a good person, and
gaining special status than other people, we should share some of our fortunes to help
people and the environment. Nowadays, a lot of billionaires becomes a philanthropist and
having a direct contribution to society. It becomes more and more popular because with
their contribution, it has a positive effect on their personal and company images. This
acknowledgment from society and also government will give them a special status and can
be a good thing for their business also in the future.
The idea now is global responsibility. Businesses are the true planetary citizens, they
can push frontiers, they can change society.

In the term taking care of the environment, I agree that is a global responsibility for
everyone on this planet to follow the environmentally friendly practice and push others to
also follow the practice. Other that term, I do not fully agree.

It is true that business with the effective marketing and campaigns can change the society,
especially people lifestyle. However, it also brings dual side effect. The impact on the
society can be positive or negative. For example, there was a time when eating fast food
and drinking soda was a "cool" lifestyle. Therefore, having business ethics are very
important since we know that our product can bring effect to our customer.

In the next decade, environmentalism will be the most important issue for business.

I agree. We have only one world and we already saw how people running their business
irresponsibly and it destroyed the environments. This way of doing business brings a lot of
problems for another people also. For example, how pollution caused by manufacturers in
China causing so many health problems and smog every day, or deforestation in Borneo
causing some species extinction and destroying the nature. The profit gained from the
business are nothing compared to losses and damage from the environment destruction.
This reality makes people come into a consideration where saving the environment are the
most important thing. With the globalization, people knows about this kind of practice and
start realizing that eco-friendly business is a must. With the big demand in the market, it
will change the business and industry by itself. The non-eco-friendly company will lose
their market, and only company that cares about nature and the environment will win the
market.
References:

Harvey, Charles, "Why Entrepreneurs Like Bill Gates Become Philanthropists", The
Guardian, 2014 <https://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-
network/2013/may/09/bill-gates-warren-buffet-philanthropic> [accessed 12 June
2017]

Makower, Joel, "Why Joel Makower Is Optimistic About The Future Of Green
Business", Forbes, 2012 <https://www.forbes.com/sites/eco-
nomics/2012/03/05/why-is-joel-makower-optimistic-about-the-future-of-green-
business/#7f59e9ba4ae6> [accessed 12 June 2017]

Zhan, Lucia, "Protecting The Environment Is Everyone's Duty", Voices Of Youth, 2014
<http://www.voicesofyouth.org/en/posts/protecting-the-environment-is-everyone-s-
duty> [accessed 12 June 2017]