As the world moves toward the twenty-first century, it is strikingly obvious that business operates within complex webs of social relationships. Broad societal forces have become so much a part of modern life that political revolution, global economic forces, and technological transformation of communications and financial transactions have produced networks of social relations that span the globe. Business is conducted—quite literally—twenty- four hours a day, every day, in every nation on earth. In every nation, human beings are affected, directly and indirectly, intentionally and unintentionally, by this extraordinary confluence of commerce and society. And because change produces more change, the prospect of yet greater trans- formation grows.
Today, the relationship between business and society is evolving in
new and sometimes troubling ways:
• In the United States and other advanced nations, businesses are transforming the nature of the employment relationship, abandoning decades-long practices that provided job security to employees, in favor of highly flexible, but less secure, forms of employment.
• The restructuring and redesign of businesses have been driven by intense competition in global markets, continuous pressure to improve the quality of products and services, and information networks that facilitate rapid transfer of economic, social, and political information. The stability and protection that geography, technology, and time once provided are gone.
• Governmental policies toward individual industries and sectors of the economy have reshaped the marketplace for goods and services. Governmental policies toward trade are now critical to the competitive future of businesses everywhere, and to the social well-being of more than 5 billion people that now inhabit the earth.
• Ecological and environmental problems have been catapulted into prominence, forcing governments and businesses to take action. Crises, scientific research, and new knowledge of how normal human
activities affect natural ecosystems are producing widespread concern that environmental protection must be integrated with economic growth if development is to be sustainable into the next century. ...