social environment on business

Social Environment

Social environment strongly affect the entrepreneurial behaviour, which contribute to entrepreneurial growth. The social setting in which the people grow, shapes their basic beliefs, values and norms. The social factors can be

(i) Family background

(ii) Friends, relatives and teachers,

(iii) Religion

(iv) Social status

(v) Social mobility and social marginality.

Family background greatly influence the entrepreneurial environment and maintenance of social system. The environment of the family affect entrepreneurship Joint family can provide family resources to invest and expand family. businessman, the son is more likely to enter the same line bebusiness. If the father is a professional, entrepreneur or busicause of certain inherent advantages. Background of a family in manufacturing provide a source of industrial entrepreneurship. Mobility of the entrepreneur is
influenced by the occupational and social status of the family. Social status too affect entrepreneurship.

All human beings aspire for high social status and on attaining a particular level they start aspiring for higher & higher levels. People become quite responsible in their pursuit of protecting and developing their status. Chester I. Bernard believes that the desire for improvement and protection of status forces people to behave responsibly. People work hard to maintain and improve their status, and it contributes to entrepreneurial growth.

Caste and religion of entrepreneur are contributory factors of entrepreneurial growth. Some of the castes haveninculcated in themselves a particular culture that fosters entrepreneurship. In India certain ethnical communities engaged in trade and industry for centuries like Jains, Baniyas,Vaishyas and Khatris have been the dominant sources of entrepreneurship. Similarly certain religious communities like the Parsees, Marwaris and Sindhis have inclination for industrial activity and this has definitely helped in the emergence and growth of entrepreneurship. A person is likely to assume the guidelines or rules of the reference group to which he belongs. The reference group can be religious groups, close circle of friends and relatives. The prospective entrepreneur would discuss his business ideas with them and seek their advice before starting a new business.

Social mobility involves the degree of social and geographical mobility and the nature of mobility within the system. The opinion that social mobility is crucial of entrepreneurial emergence is not unanimous. There are persons of the view point that high degree of mobility is conducive for the emergence of entrepreneurship. At the same time there are others of the opinion that lack of mobility would result innthe emergence of entrepreneurship. There are still others putting forth the argument that the system should not bentoo flexible nor too rigid because the former would pull thenentrepreneur away from his role and latter would restrict thenentrepreneur. Social marginality also positively influences entrepreneurship. Social marginality implies a situation in which there is a discontinuity between the individuals personal attributes (comprising of physical characteristics, intellectual make up and social behaviour patters) and the role or roles which the individual plays in the society. A person belonging to a social group traditionally constrained to enter economic activity and barred from any other activity by the society is expected to choose the ownership manager role in a small industry. The number of openings available also affect the emergence of entrepreneurship. Expanding economy and increase in per capita income give boost to the entrepreneurial activity. Similarly the pace of structural change in the economy opens new opportunities for.

Environmental adists have repeatedly high lighted the hayoc caused by some of our petro chemical, heavy chemical dyestuff and other polluting industries as also the environmental damage caused by large scale deforestation, open mining, quarrying etc., which will take decades to rectify. Technology has advanced significantly to allow efficient use of resource. Throughout the world industry has become conscious of the need to use renewable resources as far as possible an utilise non renewable resources within planned limits. With potential development taking place in the industry we should learn from past incidences of industrial disasters leading environmental disasters and ensure further growth consistent with environmental protection.