How the Social Environment Affects a Business

Introduction
When we say 'Social Environment', we refer to the social customs, the traditions and the norms
followed by the society that a business prevails in. Social factors exert profound influence over
how a business can operate and how it can amplify its profitability. If a business refuses to
respect these norms and customs, it will have disastrous consequences. One prime example in
this regard is McDonald's. More than 80% of the population of India follows the religion of
Hinduism which prohibits the consumption of beef. So, when McDonald's opted for expansion in
the Indian market, it had to apply drastic changes in its menus and pull off all its beef products
from the shelf. However, the fast food business shall not be the area of focus here. This
assessment will highlight how social factors impact the sector of information technology in
India.
Social Factors Influencing the IT Sector
The following points reflect how social customs, traditions and norms affect the Indian IT sector:
● Positive Effects
○ High Regards for Engineers in the Society - Engineering is considered to be
one of the most respected professions in the Indian society. Almost every Indian
parent dreams of making their children grow up to become engineers. Since IT
sector is known to be in a growing phase, it is understood by all Indians alike that
the IT sector holds maximum job opportunities. With a vibrant middle class
equipped with both affordability and ambition, the Indian IT industry has ample
availability of skilled labour as at least 6 out of every 10 aspiring engineers in the
country choose either Computer Science, Telecommunication or Information
Technology as their field of specialization.
○ Icons Inspiring Thousands Everyday - Every Indian youngster casting their
first step into the corporate world as an IT professional dreams of becoming like
Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates or even Elon Musk one day. However,
India is not far behind the United States when it comes to success stories. Our
very own Narayan Murthy, Azim Premji, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal inspire
thousands of young Indian IT professionals. This motivation is helping the IT
sector expand even more aggressively with new startups being formed everyday.
 Last year alone, India saw the birth of more than 1200 startups. The rise of the
startup culture in India is giving a huge push towards digitization which is bound
to result in further strengthening the grip of the IT sector over the Indian
economy.
○ Stock Trading as a Way of Life - Presently India has more than 15 million stock
traders making the Indian stock market booming with activity. This number is
only increasing with every passing day. For a significant chunk of the Indian
population, stock trading has become a way of life and it is because of this that
the stock market is as vibrant and as affective as ever. This ensures ample
availability of capital for the bigger players like Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy
Services, Godrej Infotech, Tech Mahindra and certain others who operate in the
form of public corporations registered with the Stock Exchange Board of India.

● Negative Effects
○ Disparity between Urban India and Rural India - More than 75% of the
population of the country happens to be based in the rural sector which is plagued
with severe lack of proper educational facilities unlike its urban counterpart.
Information technology is a field which is highly complex in nature. If one opts to
work in the business of information technology, he or she must have adequate
knowledge regarding computer software, computer hardware, coding language
and so on. However, due to the dismal condition of academia in rural India, it is
found that the growth of the IT sector is ending up being rather skewed, being
more and more restricted to the urban sector.
○ Complexities Arising due to Cultural Diversity - India is a country of 29 states
and 7 union territories. It has more than 200 different languages and dialects as
well as an ethnically diverse population with representation of every major
religion of the world including Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Jainism,
Buddhism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and so on. This cultural diversity is
something that India takes great pride upon in the name of 'Unity in Diversity'.
But, it is this very cultural diversity that presents a whole array of complexities
when it comes to the management of human resources in an organization. India's
 IT sector encompasses every state and every union territory of the country. On
frequent occasions, there is exchange of man power as well as expertise between
the different regional branches of a company. That is when the language barrier
and the culture clash come to the forefront.
○ Patriarchy Deeply Embedded in the Culture - There is a gross gender
imbalance in the Indian workplace. However, the IT sector still fares better than
the hard engineering sector in this regard. That is not enough. Indian IT sector has
only around 26% women working in engineering jobs. For this to change,
initiative must be taken at the grassroot level starting from the household. The
inherent belief in the society that women's purpose after marriage is simply to
spend the rest of their lives as faithful housewives and nurturing mothers is the
actual crux of the problem.
Conclusion
It has been understood that the social environment of the Indian IT sector doesn't just exert
positive influences on it, but also negative ones. However, it is indeed noteworthy that with the
passage of time, the social environment has chances of further improving primarily due to the
following reasons:
1. In spite of 15 million being a big number, it seems small compared to 1.25 billion which
is the total Indian population and that is why it is understood that there is profound scope
for the number of stock traders in the country to increase in the future
2. There is a high possibility of educational facilities being improved in the rural sector
through increased public investment and that is evident from the opposition as well as the
public pressing the administration more and more to give greater importance to education
3. Exposure of the masses to Western culture as a result of Globalization and
implementation of statutes like 'Women's Reservation' will help reduce the gender
imbalance in the workplace, not just in the case of IT sector, but all sectors alike