Social Responsibility is defined many different ways. One definition states: “Acting with concern and sensitivity, aware of the impact of your actions on others, particularly the disadvantaged.” (1) Another states it as: “The idea that a company should embrace its social responsibilities and not be solely focused on maximizing profits. Social Responsibility entails developing businesses with a positive relationship to the society in which they operate.”(2)

Company Q’s current attitude towards social responsibilities seems insensitive. Their insensitivity has really shown when they chose to throw away expired food instead of having it donated to a local food bank. They were more concerned with reducing internal theft than helping feed the less fortunate. It took years of requests from their customers to get more organic products stocked in their stores. The customer may perceive that their concerns are not worth the company’s time. They also closed two stores because they were no long being profitable. What about all the customers/families that have been shopping at these two stores for the last X amount of years? Where do they go now?

By closing the two stores and refusing to donate food to the local food bank, we can conclude that Company Q is not being socially responsible. In fact they are doing the complete opposite. They chose to close the two stores rather than exploring different options to improve store performance, which in turn could potentially improve community relationships, customer loyalty, and profits. The company destroys any chance of their being employee commitment and trust by implying that employees might steal if they handle donations. Generosity is non-existent, customer concerns are not of high importance, and the suspicion that employees would steal signifies they lack a strong ethical culture. Throwing away the food