Socio-cultural environment is a collection of behaviors of every individuals through which they engage themselves in their personal and professional

lives. It includes the characteristics of the population/Identity (e.g. age, caste, clan, language, ethnicity, class etc.), social traditions, values and attitudes, literacy and education rate, role & positions of women in society & family, the present ethical standards of society, social stratification, conflict and Lifestyles. Socio-cultural environment also defines human relationships and the impact of such social attitudes and cultural values on the business as well as on an organization. The beliefs and norms of every society determine how individuals and organizations should be inter-dependent. The core beliefs of every society are different from each other and hence they are rigid in nature. It is difficult for businesses to change these core values, which become base of its functioning. Some of the important factors and influences operating in this environment are as follows: To avoid the ill effects of socio cultural environment, Indian democracy was evolved based on the ideals of equality and social justice. Equality, freedom and fraternity were thus made the three inherent values of our democracy. Therefore the maker of our constitution advocated for a democracy which encompassed the qualities of both procedural democracy, which centers around democratic structures, institutions & procedures and substantive democracy, which focusses on democratic conditions & the methods to achieve democratic goals like economic quality, justice, liberty etc. However the realization and articulation of identity by individuals have become a source of conflicts and tensions between people of different communities, regions, caste, gender and religions. Additionally people dont carry a particular identity but their identity changes according to circumstances which further aggravate the situation. Such elusive acts lead to overall failure of purposes and merits of our democratic system. The state cant simply align itself towards a particular community or religion but rather they need to be impartial in their approach and hence the best way is to enforce awareness through curriculum and pedagogy. The rise of the caste system was historically framed on the understanding of Jati and Varna. Ranking was done on the basis of Purity-Pollution scale. However caste based stratification is getting outdated due to mixing of wealth and power with prestige. A new form of strata based on associations of caste and community is emerging. Politics was playing a dominant role in the new emerging caste transformation. The caste system disappeared from the society but there was a decisive rise of caste identity in Indian politics. The traditional power has not changed and was still vested in the hands of middle and upper classes. Traditionally theses classes would use their power to overthrow any attempts from lower classes & dalits to get their share in power. But the scenario changed after the emergence of peasant class and rise of dalit politics. Considering the increase in inequalities in terms of opportunity and outcome, government came up with plan of reservations. The reservation for SCs & STs was done on principle of compensation while for OBCs it was based on principle of social justice and representation. The government, in order to

avoid caste identity based clashes need to be equitable in providing opportunity for its entire people irrespective of their caste identity. Gender inequality is yet another grave phenomenon which has afflicted most countries in world. In India the current sex ratio stands as 100:93 which portrays a dismal situation. Patriarchy has been mostly responsible for underpinning gender inequality. Male, historically in Indian society, has been portrayed as decision maker and prime representative based on certain stereotypes which over periods have been assumed as natural outcome. The threat of gender inequality can be countered by declaring it as systematic injustice, raising awareness and consciousness about women capabilities shares & rights and judicial action against sexual & physical violence. There are several key insights I learnt through the study of Socio-Cultural environment of business. Every manager and business need to adapt accordingly to the change in socio cultural environment so that they maintain competitive advantage as well as remain focus to the consumers needs and requirements. An in depth analysis of changing socio-cultural factor may help a manager to take more socially relevant decisions influencing businesses and business decisions in changing consumer preferences atmosphere. Furthermore the changes in demographics along with variations in ratios of gender in several community, regions, classes etc can also affect the way a management takes decisions and does business. Internal decision making of an organization is also dependent on changing socio-cultural factors, for example leave for maternity, decisions against racial discrimination etc.