Social and Environmental Goals

Social Goals:

• Community Service: Business can play an active and positive role in the community (national or town). Sponsorship of events and support for charities and other community groups is a great way for real impact to be made by a firm.

• Provision of employment: Business owners may seek to provide opportunities for local people to gain meaningful income through working for the business. The opportunities to grow through work can change lives.

• Social Justice: Businesses can position themselves in support of issues and concerns (nationally or globally) in order to raise awareness and support ethical behaviour, human rights and social justice. 

Environmental Goals:

Environmental sustainability is a growing concern of governments, citizens and businesses globally. The reduction of carbon emissions is deemed critical to the long-term survival of our species.

Many firms have goals to limit their carbon footprint (the level of carbon pollution created by their operations). 

Some firms do this by offsetting their operations (investing in environmentally beneficial actions that are equivalent to their destructive actions).

Others do this by investing in improved technology that use less non-renewable resources that pollute the planet. 

Personal Goals of the Owner(s):

The personal goals of the owner tend to be indicated through the operations and nature of the business. These are not usually made public in business plans.

Personal goals could include: 

• Replacement of income (to become own boss) or higher earnings

• Increased financial security (increase growth / profitability of firm)

• Make an impact on the community / world

• Improve the lives of others