Introduction 

Definition of Social Responsibility:

According to Bowen, social responsibility means “obligation of business to pursue those policies, to make those decisions or to follow those lines of action which are desirable in terms of the objectives and values of our society.”

The very survival and growth of any enterprise totally depends upon its acceptance by the society and the environment.

The social responsiveness implies actions and the ‘how’ of the responses of the management.

Social Marketing Functions:

 1. Survival: Survival may be the basic and ultimate objective of a business particularly under changing environment, changing demand and competition. Survival also is the best measures of economic performance and marketing activity. Social responsibility is an essential condition of survival over the long run. Services is the highway to customer satisfaction and, therefore, to survive in competition, marketing strategies are developed to achieve the survival goal.

2. Profitability: Business needs profits to justify its existence. Profitability is a basic objective and profit concept is always present in marketing. The basic duty of the marketing manager is, of course, to serve consumer needs profitability in a way which will be in harmony with long-term survival goals. Profit is the reward for risk-bearing and enterprise.

3. Service: Under customer-oriented marketing, serving the demand of customers is the central marketing function. It is the guaranteed road even to profitability. Profit is the by product of consumer satisfaction. The concept of service to customers and to society is based on ethical views of marketing practice. Services to consumer-citizen is the master-key to both survival as well as profits.

4. Social responsibility: Modern business does not live in a vacuum. It lives in a socio-economic environment. Hence, it has on obligation to meet its social responsibilities to its employees, the community and the public, as well as to its owners and customers.

Manages at all levels in an organisation an involved in resolving the conflict and reconciling the following responsibilities-

a. to the society as a whole

b. to the consumers

c. to the employees

d. to the shareholders

e. to the government.

Managers act as both businessman and citizens. They must reconcile the conflicts between the economic responsibility and social responsibility.