Should Maximizing Profit Be The Only Social Responsibility Of Corporations

There are conflicting expectations of the nature of a company’s responsibilities to society. However, those companies that undertake what may be termed ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ must decide; what are the actual social responsibilities of these companies? I will present a possible paradigm. Also, I will look at the benefit to the business that employs proper management as compared the business with poor management. This research paper describes my view of corporate social responsibility and compares the social responsibilities of Delta Air Lines and Spirit

Because corporations are established to profit and shareholders invest money with expectations of a greater return, managers cannot be given a directive to be “socially responsible” without providing specific criteria of checks and balances to which needs to adhere. Therefore, it is imperative to the success of a corporation for managers to not act solely but rather to act within the policies of the shareholders.

Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician and writer, who had a massive impact on the research agenda of the economics profession. His famous words “the only responsibility of business is to increase its profits” (Friedman, Milton. 1970) led to many controversial debates on whether businesses should have ethics or if profit should be their main goal. Corporate social responsibility has many definitions, as its interpretation is quite loose, so I have chosen one that relates the most to this essay, given by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, in 2000: “Corporate social

Previous writing of corporate social responsibility, and it was cited to more often as a social responsibility(SR) than as (CSR) from several year. Perhaps this was because the age of the recent corporation’s prominence and dominance in the business sectors had not yet occurred or been note.The publication by Howard R. Bowen(1953) of his landmark book “Social Responsibilities of businessman” is debate to mark the beginning of the modern period of literature on this subject (Carroll, et al., (2008)).

In 1970, Milton Friedman published an essay in which he argued that corporations’ only social responsibility ought to be making a profit for its shareholders as long as it is engaged in open and free competition without deception or fraud (Brusseau, 2012. page. 676). Moreover, Mr. Friedman also argued that only people can have social responsibilities because they control their actions and corporations don’t. However, we see that corporations are engaged in businesses such as making loans, signing contracts, acquiring licenses, creating jobs and services. They act as persons. If corporations had no responsibilities people would not invest in them; for that reason, I believe corporations should have legal and ethical responsibilities.

Drawing from these debates, Archie Carroll has developed “the Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility”, one of the most significant concepts of CSR. There are four kinds of social responsibilities that contribute total CSR, he suggested, Economic, Legal, Ethical, and Philanthropic (1991). Therefore being socially responsible does not mean forgetting the fundamental aspect of business, to make profit. The obligation of Law restricts business activities and they are the rules of the game which businesses have to obey. Being ethical is to perform actions that are fair, morally good, and of stakeholders’ interests, even outside the boundary of law. Considering corporate citizenship, philanthropic responsibilities are responses to the rising society’s expectations to business (Carroll, 1991). The notion of discretionary and voluntary distinguishes philanthropic responsibilities to ethical responsibilities. A good CSR firm should “strive to make a profit, obey the law, be ethical, and be a good corporate citizen” (Carroll, 1991, p.43) and without simultaneous fulfillment of the four responsibilities, the business should not be characterized as operating within CSR.

Corporate social responsibility has been one the key business buzz words of the 21st century. Consumers' discontent with the corporation has forced it to try and rectify its negative image by associating its name with good deeds. Social responsibility has become one of the corporation's most pressing issues, each company striving to outdo the next with its philanthropic image. People feel that the corporation has done great harm to both the environment and to society and that with all of its wealth and power, it should be leading the fight to save the Earth, to combat poverty and illness and etc. "Corporations are now expected to deliver the good, not just the goods; to pursue

A combination of recent changed to the world scene and pressures from public opinion now requires corporations to take on a new role, social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility is a corporation’s initiative to monitor and ensure compliance with the law, ethical standards, and norms. It can also be defined as corporation’s actions that further social good and go beyond the interests of the firm in order to make the world a better place. Essentially a corporation should embrace the idea of corporate citizenship, the idea that businesses are socially responsible for meeting legal, as well as ethical and economic responsibilities placed on them by shareholders. Although this is an alluring concept, it is also a flawed one. It

Social responsibility is an idea that has been of concern to mankind for many years. Over the last two decades, however, it has become of increasing concern to the business world. This has resulted in growing interaction between governments, businesses and society as a whole. In the past, businesses primarily concerned themselves with the economic results of their decisions. “Today, however, businesses must also reflect on the legal, ethical, moral and social consequences of their decisions” (Anderson 15). This paper will discuss the concept of corporate social responsibility. It will give the definition of the phrase, and identify some of the global factors that necessitate corporate social responsibility. It will discuss the importance of corporations setting up corporate social responsibility projects, and the impact these have on society. Social corporate responsibility and the maintenance of high ethical standards is not an option but an obligation for all business.

A corporation does do business within a vacuum; rather exist as part of larger collective framework of society, stakeholders and a global business community. I believe that corporations which are profitable, and promote moral and ethical standards are the benchmark of success; additionally, corporations bear a great social responsibility to the society it exists within, an simply working within “the basic rules of society, both those embodied in law and those embodied in ethical custom” is not enough (Friedman, 1991). While Robert Solomon and Milton Friedman both champion the use of ethics and morality in business, they disagree on industry’s responsibility to society, and corporations role to include communal obligation while crafting policies and guiding principles for their business decisions.

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) originated in 19537 with the publication of Bowen’s book Social Responsibilities of Businessmen (Carrol, 1999). Some perceived that at that time, the emphasis is placed on business people’s social conscience, rather than on the company itself. Some argue that corporate entities do not have any social responsibility except the ones that were written in agreement with government while establishing corporate entities, whereas others justify that corporate entities do have social responsibility. The roots of critics of CSR are so old that it is a challenge to the neoclassical business model itself (Valor, 2005). According to Smith (2005), there

The pattern of social responsibility will be demonstrated in this paper by noting a couple inquiries encompassing the thought and routine of social responsibility. The paper will start with characterizing the idea of social responsibility and noting the accompanying inquiries: What does Cohen feel is the social responsibility of a business to its workers, stakeholders, and society as a whole? How does this perspective align with that of Drucker? How does Cohen’s opinion compare with that of Friedman? Which aligns best with the current business climate promoting a ‘green environment’? Why?

Notably, Milton Friedman (2002) argued the desideratum of any other social responsibility for businessmen other than that of making maximum profits for their stockholders to exist when he clearly stressed: ‘Few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible’ (p.133). He also reasoned the unavailability of determinant factors of such social responsibilities, taking into account that it is neither efficient nor reliable to enforce nebulous social responsibilities on corporations. Consequently, critics opine that the concept of CSR is inimical to sound business practices and strays away from the basics of wealth creation (Clement-Jones, 2005; Murray, 2005; Jamli and Sidani, 2008). These academics feel businesses should involve

According to Min-Young and Fairhurst (2009), corporate social responsibility is becoming a typical issue as several organizations attempt to incorporate social and environmental issues into the day- to- day operations of their businesses. However, an organization being socially responsible is not considered fad or a discretionary addition. Instead, one might argue that an organization’s interest in being socially responsible is what is described as a “reflective of a deeper change in the relationship” (Min-Young & Fairhurst, 2009, p. 140) between an organization and its stakeholders. Furthermore, Min-Young and Fairhurst (2009) stated that a critical perspective of corporate social responsibility appears to be the responsibility to work for the betterment of society. Thus, a socially responsible organization might be seen as an organization simply being a “good corporate citizen” (Min-Young & Fairhurst, 2009, p. 141). Theorists such as Wood believed that the fundamental idea of corporate social responsibility is that an organization and society are interconnected rather than “distinct entities” (Min-Young & Fairhurst, 2009, p. 142). As a result, society might have an expectation for desirable actions and outcomes from today’s organizations.

Notably, the ideals which Friedman (1962) clearly stressed: ‘Few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible’ (p.133). He argued the desideratum of any other social responsibility for businessmen other than that of making maximum profits for their stockholders to exist. He reasoned the unavailability of determinant factors of such social responsibilities, taking into account that it is neither efficient nor reliable to enforce nebulous social responsibilities on corporations. Consequently, they opine that the concept of CSR is inimical to sound business practices and strays away from the basics of wealth creation (Clement-Jones, 2005; Murray, 2005; Jamli and Sidani, 2008). These academics feel businesses should involve in CSR “only to the