The Responsibility Of Corporate Executives

But, here is my point. If the social responsibility of a business is to increase profit, this does not omit the probability of degrading the surrounding environments (society, economy, ecology...) which by default will be contradicting to the term social responsibility itself which enhances on bringing benefit to society. For me, a business can be at the same time socially engaged and financially maximizing its profit without using someone else's money. For example, a company can be ecological by doing some really simple actions like recycling papers no longer needed, turning off lights and powering off devices not in use, donating equipment and material no longer used in the work offices, and so on. These simple actions are in fact very beneficial for the

In the article, “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Profits,” Friedman states that “businessmen believe that they are defending free enterprise when they proclaim that business is not concerned merely with profit but also with promoting desirable social ends.” This social responsibility is defined as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which is the belief that “corporations owe a greater duty to their communities and stakeholders” by having a “social conscience.” This, among other things, includes being environmentally responsible, contributing to non-profit organizations, and eliminating discrimination.

The ethical issues presented in this case are the different views that each individual has on how the idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This dispute is between Mr. Milton Friedman, John Mackey, and T.J. Rodgers; all of which has a different outlook on CSR. The definition of CSR refers to the responsibilities that business has to the society in which it operates and to those actions that a business can be held accountable. Most philosophers have come up with three different types of responsibilities that corporations can be held accountable for. The first and most important of the three is a corporation’s duty to not cause harm. If a corporation can

Many believe that business entities should have an ethical duty to be socially responsible, to work towards increasing its positive effects on society while decreasing its negative effects. Many organizations look for opportunities to be socially responsible while also creating shareholder wealth.

Corporations can be large or small but they all have some sort of ethical impact on their employees, shareholders, customers, community, and surrounding environments. Richard DeGeorge writes, “We can speak of corporations having moral responsibilities to act in certain ways, and they are morally responsible for the consequences of their actions on people.” (p. 200). Large corporations are comprised of the board of directors, management, and their workers. They also deal with suppliers, customers, and have competitors. This essay will examine the moral responsibilities within a corporation.

Every business has a social responsibility toward society. That means to maximize positive affects and minimize negative affects on the society. Social responsibilities includes economic-to produce goods and services, that society needs at the price, that satisfy both-business and consumers, legal

This was a very interesting article, in my opinion it brings to mind the derived phrase, which came first the chicken or the egg. Meaning, is corporate governance an attempt to control the results of unethical practices of corporations or is it meant to deter them. In reading this article, it is clear that certain corporations practiced unethical business behaviors for self-interest, but the questions this author have are: 1. Should corporate governance be regulated by the legislature as well as the organization and to what degree, 2. Is corporate governance, there to protect the shareholder or the stakeholder, 3. How effective is corporate governance on a global level. The need for a governance system is based on the assumption that the separation between the owners of a company and its management provides self-interest executives the opportunity to take actions that benefit themselves, with the cost of these actions borne by the owners (Larcker & Tayan, 2008).

Ethics is defined as what is right and what is wrong. Every business should behave ethically. The moral principles that guide the way a business behaves are business Ethics. Ethics are moral guidelines to people or to an organisation which govern good behaviour. So behaving ethically is doing what is morally right. Doing an ethical business may always be not profitable but it will be more beneficial to company and the people involved in company as well as the people who are getting influenced by the company. If a company is acting ethically then it is trying to differentiate between right and wrong and then chose the right decision for everyone. It is very easy it identify any unethical

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

A corporation that says it is socially responsible, claims that they are concerned for society's welfare; which also includes the environment, because now days, we are a lot more concerned about our environment and how everything affect it. The corporation will make sure to insure those values within the company and also to its partners. ("Social responsibility in Marketing," 2012 - 1998) Also, if a corporation says it is ethically responsible and it really is, it shows to their customers and partners their integrity

The idea that a corporate executive has a social responsibility in his capacity as businessman is contradictory to the goals of the firm. The concept of social responsibility implies that executives are to act in some way that is not in the interest of his employers. Friedman (1970) uses the examples of refraining from increasing the price of the product in order to contribute to the social objective of preventing inflation, even though a price increase would be in the best interests of the corporation; making expenditures on reducing pollution beyond the amount that is in the best interests of the corporation or that is required by law in order to contribute to the social objective of improving the environment; and, at the expense of corporate profits, hiring the chronically

Some business leaders are taking good moral decisions and the reason behind that idea is that the core part of their business strategy is to create mutual benefit for both wider society and business as well. The growing desire of top management is to find out ways to create mutual benefit for both the organizations and the stake holders but the public still believes that companies are greedy entities which make decisions only in their self-interest, even at the cost of greater public welfare. It is the utmost obligation of the companies to discern the social issues while making the decisions (Yashiro, Yoshida and Suzuki, no date; Godwin, 2006; Schwab, 1996; Godwin, 2008; Werhane, 1998; Werhane, 2002; Heath, 2008; Mehalik and Gorman, 2006).

There are several problems that can we seen in business ethics. “Discussions of the role of the corporation in society and the very purpose of a corporation as a social institution are examples. It is not disputed that the purpose of a for-profit corporation is to make a profit for stockholder, but there has been an intense debate about whether maximizing stockholder profits is the sole legitimate purpose of corporations” as Milton Friedman and other have argued and whether beneficent corporate conduct is justifiable. This question is normative, but there is also the question of moral psychology raised by Smith: “Does beneficence have any place in the world of business?” An example is found in public utilities’ program to help customers pay for electricity, gas, oil, phone service, and the like. This attitude not only won’t increase the company profits but reduce. In fact, this is a corporate form of charity. The money is taken directly

Corporate social responsibility is the voluntary stance or set of actions from a corporation that demonstrate a contribution to a better society and a cleaner environment. Corporations are already required to operate within the law, but laws do not always protect all people or individuals who will be affected by the corporation’s actions. In addition to this, it is very common for special interests to play a part in legal decisions through lobbying efforts, so it is assumed to be an additional effort for a corporation to be socially responsible. Being socially responsible essentially comes down to being considerate and calculated in the decision making process, paying attention to the consequence of every action. In the ethical decision making model, there are two particular steps that I believe to be of greater importance than the others. The first would be that of

Companies with extensive responsibilities even argue about the system in pursuing social responsibility of business. According to Ulrich Steger, the company should prioritize the shareholders’ incessant interest but they should also be concerned of their social responsibilities, morals and environmental goals that the public expects them to be. Without a doubt, companies’ primary goal is to earn a profit. Emphasizing on profitability affects the fundamental values in the company, its morality. Companies ignore the ethics just to earn a mountainous income. This often causes extensive repercussions in the companies.