Social Cause Marketing - The Regis Group Inc

Exhibit I
Connection Between Social Responsibility Actions and Well-Being
Objective well-being
● Physical well-being,
● Material well-being,
● Social well-being,
● Emotional well-being,
● Development and activity.
Well-being
(social and personal)
Socially Responsible Action
Subjective
well-being
● Happiness
● Life satisfaction
and stay there as long as possible 2 . But
this neither matches with RH regarding
the above problems, nor realizes
the societyís basic goals.
For instance, constraints of natural
environment and principles of human
solidarity are overseen. And in
terms of individualsí perception of
quality of life, we ask: What diminishes
the ambition to achieve more
and live better in the affluence phase
(from materialistic viewpoints)? In
this regard, Diener and Seligman, and
SDRN establish that satisfaction with
oneís life grows with growth of GDP,
but only to a certain level of GDP; afterwards
the connection disappears
(Diener, Seligman, 2004, 6; SDRN,
2005, 12). At this point, influence of
certain other factors on the perception
of objective WB becomes stronger and
more important. This proves the importance
of influence on oneís SSP
and consequently on oneís perception
of objective WB and motivation for
creative work. Sheldon (2001) noticed
a stronger positive connection between
WB and orientation toward inner
rather than outer values, (i.e., material
and social status, image, etc.).
Besides, orientation towards inner
values increases the motivation for the
realization of oneís personal goals.
The innovation phase unavoidably
makes affluence, history says.
Humankind should therefore attain a
new, fifth phase, linking creativity/
innovativeness, SR, RH, ethics of interdependence,
shorter working time
and WB in behavior towards ëthe
causeí ñ to help our shared society attain
basic goals. It should also simultaneously
consider the ubiquitous
interconnectedness and interdependence,
including constraints of the
natural environment. Thus, people
must unite and work together for longterm
survival and betterment of humankind
realizing their aspirations for
success through their companies (See
Exhibit III).
SR Business Activities Fulfilling
the Basic Societal Goals
Findings presented so far share
thoughts on the role of business activities
in human society and on the
meaning and use of principles of SR
Environment
(social and natural)
Individuals’ subjective starting points
(knowledge, emotions, mentality
and values)
Observation (perception of needs and
possibilities)
Decision making (selection of
preferred needs and possibilities)
Definition of (requisitely holistic) goals
Acting for fulfillment of defined goals
matching with RH in everyday business
activities. They should contribute
to the fulfillment of the basic societal
goals as follows:
Increasing objective WB by creation
of products, contributing to happiness;
Positive (or the least possible negative)
influence on social and natural
environments;
Social Cause Marketing As a Tool
Positive influence on an individualís
SSP (both inside and outside the
company).
The term ëPositiveí in this context refers
to all the forces that strengthen longterm
objective WB, ethics of interdependence
and RH.
The human and natural influences
on a personís SSP are very important
for their impact on and related
strengthening of societyís objective
WB. The influence on oneís SSP has
an indirect influence on oneís consumption
of goods. This increases the
scarcity of certain natural resources
and aggravates the problem of environmental
protection. Companies using
their marketing tools (for their business
goals) to create artificial needs and to
accordingly influence consumersí SSP
actually cause threefold harm to society
and nature: They needlessly use
scarce resources; they increase environmental
pollution; and they create
stress within individuals who wish to
satisfy their artificial needs. In order to
put these problems at bay, marketing
tools should be used for discovering
the existent and predicting the future
needs (to increase objective WB) and
for active inclusion of interested individuals
in value creation (Prahalad,
Ramaswamy, 2004). Thus, human beings
can reduce the production of unnecessary
products and use less of
scarce resources. Such approach to
business action would have a positive
influence on the creation of objective
WB and the real needs would be fulfilled.
Simultaneously, a positive influence
on the perception of subjective WB
of consumers and employees would be
achieved, which in turn, would contribute
towards increasing the motivation
2
The other solution (commonly used today) is to
create artificial needs with use (or abuse) of marketing
tools, thus, increasing demand for material
goods. But this leads to consumerism, including
all its unfavorable consequences too.
SEPTEMBER 2009
13
EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE