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Milton Friedman

Satisfactory Essays

Milton Friedman
Michelle Meyer
MBA604
November 6, 2016
Ron Myszkowski

Milton Friedman
In his paper, The Social Responsibilities of Business is to Increase its Profits (Friedman, 1970), Milton Friedman discusses social responsibility and what he feels it means in the business arena. He goes on to say “A corporation is an artificial person” (Friedman, 1970) and since this is not a real person, cannot have any responsibilities. While a corporation or business has a leader or board of directors, Friedman states these individuals cannot make decisions on social responsibility without eating into the profits of the company, the employee’s wages, or even the price that the customer has to pay for the item.
Upon my first review of Friedman’s article, I thought he was throwing everything about a good company out the window. After reading it a second time, and realizing it was written in 1970, I believe he was stating the first responsibility of a company is to make a profit. Why else would you be in business? You cannot make money if you give your goods away for free! I believe this is the foundation of any business, to make a …show more content…

So the next step in the business should be the legal responsibilities. In his article, Friedman states there are “constitutional, parliamentary and judicial provisions” that can impact a business. Think about climate control and greenhouse gases. “Standards for automobile fuel economy were established under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) of 1975, and have subsequently been increased and expanded to include most light trucks.” ("Federal Actions: Federal Programs Directory - DOT Transportation and Climate Change Clearinghouse," 2016) Automobile manufacturers need to follow the laws on emissions when building new vehicles. Whether they choose to follow the law becomes an ethical issue which I believe is another step in their

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