Finally, business firms themselves are citizens of their societies. Firms organized as corporations are also legal persons. Whether corporate persons or not, citizen firms have presences in their communities. Their offices, plants, and warehouses have significant impacts upon the appearances of the communities within which they are situated. Their employees are active in the schools and churches of their communities.
Many firms make valuable monetary and in-kind contributions to their communities.
This brief discussion has not exhausted the many contributions made by business firms to their communities. As firms contribute to their communities, they also incur responsibilities in their communities. While the roles mentioned above reveal the significance of business firms to society, each is also fraught with the potential for misbehavior by firms. It is such misbehavior which may lead the society to become less tolerant of the continued unfettered operation of firms in the private sector. The Firm's Societal Contacts Business firms in market economies come into contact with a great many different types of people as they conduct their productive activities.