Virtually every activity in a company’s value chain touches on the communities in which the firm operates, creating either positive or negative social consequences. (For an example of this process, see the exhibit “Looking Inside Out: Mapping the Social Impact of the Value Chain.”) While companies are increasingly aware of the social impact of impact of their activities (such as hiring practices, emissions, and waste disposal), these impacts can be more subtle and variable than many managers realize. For one thing, they depend on location. The same manufacturing operation will have very different social consequences in China than in the United States.