Wall Street's Agenda

Over the past five years, there has been an increase in the proportion of multinational firms adopting a culture of including services that will help the community. Social, environmental, and governance issues are now being included into the basic strategy of the majority of enterprises. Maximizing earnings and ensuring customer happiness are insufficient for a business like Wall Street. The company is dedicated to giving back by going above and above to guarantee that it benefits its employees, the community, and the wider globe. Wall Street has built a strong reputation by pushing beyond what other people perceive to be their limit. The international business is leveraging its success to create a golden opportunity to help the society. The paper will discuss how multinational corporations particularly Wall-Street is socially responsible.

Social Obligations of Wall Street

The social obligations of Wall Street are aimed at promoting its vision of social accountability to a wider range of stakeholders other than investors and shareholders. The key areas that the organization is focusing on to fulfill its social responsibilities include; the wellbeing of its employees, the environmental protection, the community and the civil society at large and particular issues like addressing segregation based on gender and sexual harassment (Santoro and Strauss 42). The commitment of the organization to give back to the community was triggered by its realization that a business corporation of its caliber cannot work as a segregated economic entity that is completely detached from the broader society. It seems Wall Street has changed its traditional views of survival, competitiveness, and profitability. The commitment to offer something back to the society has been taken as a core strategy for the organization to maximize its profits and impress the general public at the same time. Its social obligations are consumer driven. They implement their projects that demonstrate social responsibility basing on what the consumers expect from them (Thomsen 43).

Attracting Graduates and Employee Giving Campaign

Majority of fresh graduates are expressing their interests to pursue their careers at Wall-Street because it creates an environmental plus a social value that goes along with financial profitability. Wall-Street is considered as a big elephant in the house when it comes to social responsible matters. It has received several awards from the reputation institute for rolling out programs that demonstrate its obligations to the society. The company’s employee giving campaign is one of the major programs that has been lauded by the general society in relation to its effects to the general public. The program encourages its employees to take part in activities like fundraising to support various community projects. The growth of many non-profit organizations that offer crucial services to the society is attributed to the contributions from Wall Street employees. The program is held every year and it has proved to be beneficial to the general public. More than thirty nonprofit organizations that currently operate within the United States rely on the contributions of the business organizations to implement their programs. Giving contributions to the organizations is the only way of making the crucial services available to the community because it cannot offer them directly. Some of the programs that Wall-Street’s contributions sponsor include diagnostic and medical services. Organizations that wish to offer such important services but they lack funds write their proposals to the organization for considerations. Apart from benefiting the society through the various non-profit organizations, the organization utilizes the programs to establish a healthy relationship with their potential customers (Wall 11).

Environmental Protection

Environmental pollution and deforestation are common challenges that the world is facing today. Many economic activities especially in the developed economies have failed to operate within the requirements of sustainable development. There is a major threat that the future generation will not be able to fully cater for their own needs. Wall Street is much concerned about the environment and sustainable development. The organization has launched campaigns that will help to protect the environment in various countries where they offer their services. According to a Wall Street journal, India is among the countries that Wall Street is considering to roll out its campaign on environmental protection. India’s cases of environmental pollution as well as deforestation calls for proper action to save the future generation. As a way of giving back to the community, Wall Street channels its resources to programs that helps to enhance sustainable development through embracing environmentally friendly activities. The activities include spearheading campaigns to educate the general public as well as the companies that contribute to environmental pollution to see the sense of protecting the environment. Apart from India, Wall Street has also promoted tree planting activities in various countries across the world. In the US alone, Wall Street is responsible for planting of more than ten billion trees every year. The number is significant because it replaces the number of trees that are cut every year. The environmental programs seem to be the major programs that Wall Street has been investing in as a way of helping the general public. The organization has also bills related to climate change issues through various groups that advocate for a cleaner and sustainable environment (Wall 18).

Advocating for Social and Political Issues

The common social and political issues that affect the US economy are also on the agenda of Wall Street. Some of the matters that the corporation has been advocating for in the society include the rights of women and gender diversity in employment. The issue of utmost significance to the US society particularly the women because they have been facing so many gender based challenges. The issue of gender imbalances and segregating women in employment has been in existence within US for a long time. Women are always treated as second class citizens particularly when it comes to employment opportunities. Wall Street is obligated to address the matter as a way of helping the women in the US. The organization has sponsored various campaigns that brought together several interested groups. To serve as an example, there are equal employment opportunities for men and women in Wall Street (Stockheim 17). One of missions is to promote gender equality amongst its employees. Its commitments as an advocate of gender equality and elimination of gender based biases that infringe the rights of women has been constructive because most companies as well as the government is championing for rights of women and gender balance. Such a program amounts to be classified as the best way a multinational corporation like Wall Street can demonstrate its commitments to the society because it results in changes that will remain forever (Santoro and Strauss 34). A significant role that Wall Street has played and will benefit the entire world is its commitment to curb the effects of the 2008 economic meltdown. Although it falls under category of financial institutions that contributed to the crisis, it isn commited to save the general society from the effects of the crisis for example by advocating for controlled lending by banks (Ferguson).

Conclusion

The activities and commitments of Wall Street to society fits the definition of a socially responsible corporation. The organization is not only interested in making profits and offering good services to its customers but also to give back to the society. Wall Street demonstrates its obligations to the society through fundraising to support non-profit organization, environmental protection activities like tree planting, and addressing common social issues affecting the US society for instance gender equality in employment and women rights.

Works Cited

Ferguson, Charles. "Inside Job FuLL'M.o.V.i.E''2010''English'HD'free." YouTube, 4 Dec. 2010,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsaYxcckDmY.

Santoro, Michael A., and Ronald J. Strauss. "Does Wall Street Have Any Responsibility to Society?"Wall Street Values, 2014, pp. 27-58.

Stockheim, Ulrich. "Wall Street: Im Machtzentrum des Kapitalismus." Inside Wall Street, 2000, pp. 13-26.

Thomsen, Steen. "Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility." Corporate Social Responsibility, 2006, pp. 40-54.

Wall, Caleb. "The opportunity of corporate responsibility." Buried Treasure: Discovering and Implementing the Value of Corporate Social Responsibility, 2008, pp. 1-23.