Social, Environmental, and Trust Issues in Business and Finance

Abstract

This chapter discusses social, environmental and trust issues relating to business and finance in a historical context. Social issues relating to the concerned societal groups emerged since the mid of the 20th century and have had increasing impact on business ever since. Environmental issues and concerns about social conditions of third parties (e.g. Vietnam war) followed. Recently, societal groups have also voiced anxieties about the trustworthiness of certain businesses, especially large financial institutions. These societal trends can be business relevant in a positive and negative way. Managing these stakeholder concerns can, for instance, build trust and consumer loyalty but it also costs corporate resources. The chapter closes with an outlook on social, environmental and trust issues in the 21st century. Due to a consistently increasing complexity of business and finance and a similarly consistently increasing speed of information exchange among concerned stakeholders (e.g. via social media), it is believed that especially trust based businesses such as financial institutions will be increasingly faced with the challenges and opportunities resulting from societal concerns about social, environmental and trust issues.