3 minute read
SOCIAL BUSINESS – EMMA WATT
Emma Watt Associate, social business sector 0121 214 3609 emma.watt@anthonycollins.com
SOCIAL BUSINESS
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LOOKING FORWARD TO 2021
For those involved in doing good through enterprise, 2020 was a year with some encouragements amongst the enormous challenges and gives us some signs of hope going in 2021 amidst the gloom.
The pandemic brought a new focus on the responses from business, and there was a new sense of public awareness on the ethics of that response, veering from outrage (Sports Direct seeking to be regarded as an ‘essential’ retailer in the first lockdown) through to warm approval (Leon providing free meals for health care workers).
We expect scrutiny of business ethics to continue, as business and consumer customers become more and more aware of the reputations of those they buy from. Indeed, a YouGov survey in July 2020 showed 85% agreed that they would prefer to buy from businesses that had a strong record for good conduct, with 38% agreeing strongly.1
This challenge was reinforced by the Black Lives Matter movement, and the associated conversations around diversity, social mobility, and the treatment of BAME people in the workplace. Again, corporations have struggled to respond, and those who can demonstrate a genuine commitment to a diverse workforce (rather than paying lip service and floundering to come up with a strategy) will surely do well.
In our view, there has never been a better time to be a distinctive, impactful business. The report ‘Rebuilding Business for Society’, from a coalition of organisations active in the sector, notes that as “the country seeks to rebuild after the pandemic, there is an opportunity to develop a business landscape that drives more broadly-based prosperity”. We agree; now is the time for that moment to be seized.
Alongside these signs of hope, there remain huge challenges, but also opportunities.
The future of town and city centres has been thrown into doubt by the pandemic. As our head of local government notes in the previous section, the future working environment will undoubtedly change, and far more quickly than we might have expected. This will have a huge knock-on effect in historic centres.
We have already begun to see the fundamental re-shaping of the high street. In Birmingham’s Grand Central development, the flagship John Lewis store will not re-open. Debenhams, Laura Ashley, Monsoon and Cath Kidston have all either closed completely or are winding down. What is the future for the town centre, even after the pandemic threat has receded? There is an opportunity here to rethink how the high street serves the community by reflecting a more diverse, more inclusive, more locally based offer and by valuing connections that go beyond shopping. Social businesses have a key part to play alongside local authorities and community-led housing providers in this rethinking process.
And, of course, there is Brexit. Our technical briefing will follow, but for those of our clients who rely on a large and readily available workforce – such as food, retail, hospitality (which will surely recover once we are able to mix safely again) and other similar industries – there will be a sea change. There may be a gradual loosening of the rules on procurement in the public sector, but don’t hold your breath.
In summary, 2021 has started with a major set of challenges but it also presents an opportunity to throw out the rule book and embrace the benefit of change. There is much to consider, but also much to work on, and much to hope for in the new year.
1 Cited in ‘Rebuilding Business for Society’, published by the Association of Financial Mutuals, the Building Societies Association, Cooperatives UK, the Employee Ownership Association and Social Enterprise UK, September 2020.
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