I muse…

in an ideal world, the consumer should not have to spend copious amounts of time researching before they shop. Global trading ethics would be clear and transparent, there would be a straightforward accountability system in place, and any company that chose not to trade in this way would be obvious to the end purchaser of the product. Audits would be available for responsible environmental practices and responsible behaviour towards labourers. Business’ would seek such guarantees from their suppliers and have the means to validate them. It would become normal for business’ to have community projects that they supported and to make this publicly known, so that those business’ that chose not to participate would again stand out to the consumer.

In some ways it sounds maybe too ideal and a way off in the future, but I’m not sure that it is so unachievable. If you look at the food industry for example, these days you take for granted that you look no further than the label if you want to know the ingredients used in a product and often in what proportion, and yet that is really a relatively recent legislation. Companies responded to the public concern about GM and are keen to inform consumers when their products don’t contain such ingredients. Organic food is now readily available with authentification. Whilst it is true that all this information does not tell the whole story (Not on the Label), there is nowadays far more information available to the concerned consumer to base their purchasing decision on, without having to be in the know or widely read.

Here at ResponsAble, we look forward to the day which we hope is coming soon, where business in general is able to shoulder the weight of the responsibilities it bears towards those it is in business with on every level, sustainable wealth creation, because it knows that governments, consumers, and stakeholders expect no less.