Giving Thought

Episode 5 of the Giving Thought podcast looks at the role of business when it comes to doing social good, and what this means for philanthropy in general. Rhod and Adam take a tour through the following topics:   Why should businesses do good? We ask what theoretical grounding there is for expecting companies to show social responsibility or perform philanthropic acts is. Is there a social contract that places responsibilities on companies just as it does on individuals, or does it always come down to self-interest in some form or another? And is that merely the pragmatic self-interest of wanting good PR or employee satisfaction, or can it be a more enlightened self-interest that recognises the longer-term value of a healthy civil society?   We also look at the emergence of new business models that combine social purpose and commercial focus. We ask whether the idea of combining a commercial purpose with a social one is actually far older than we often think, and whether we could learn something from the b