The article “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits” is written by a famous economist Milton Friedman. Friedman in this article implies that shareholders are the main drivers of the corporations and he believes that it is to them corporations must be socially responsible to. The goal of any corporation is to maximize profits and return the portion of these profits to shareholders for investing in the corporation. The shareholders can themselves decide which social causes to take part in rather than assigning a corporate executive to decide on their behalf. Friedman argues that a corporation must have no social responsibility to society because its only concern is the increase profits for itself and its shareholders. …show more content…
Porter along with Mark Kramer. In this article, the authors emphasize on the importance of creating shared value on the strategic level of an organization vs corporate social responsibility which is viewed a separate moral obligation for the sake of company’s reputation and making profits. According to the authors, shared value must be embedded into the core value and strategy of business. What the authors of the article are implying is that awareness of social economic challenges is growing making them clearly visible. Businesses and their legitimacy are now viewed as part of the problem. CSR is considered as a scheme to make money and an area which is separate from its core business. Economists believe we should raise the bar and embed the concept of creating shared value on the core strategies of business. CSR activities are externally determined whereas, Creating Shared Value (CSV) activities are more company specific therefore understanding and legitimacy of value chain is needed for sustainability, for example the products and customers being served. CSR activities are limited to CSR budget whereas Creating Shared Value is mobilizing the entire budget of corporation to impact social issues. Creating Shared Value is a genuine way to restore the legitimacy of corporations as results are measured not just by profitability but by the social and economic value created. Companies who
First thing let us start with a little overview of what Milton Friedman exposed in his article. It seems that the whole point of his essay revolves around one basic statement which clearly says that the only social responsibility of business is to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long it stays within the rules of the game (Milton Friedman, the social responsibility of business is to increase profit).
“There is only one and only one social responsibility of business- to use its resources and engage in activities designated to increase its profits so long as it decides to stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.”
An organization’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) drives them to look out for the different interests of society. Most business corporations undertake responsibility for the impact of their organizational pursuits and various activities on their customers, employees, shareholders, communities and the environment. With the high volume of general competition between different companies and organizations in varied fields, CSR has become a morally imperative commitment, more than one enforced by the law. Most organizations in the modern world willingly try to improve the general well-being of not only their employees, but also their families and the society as a whole.
Milton Friedman presents a compelling argument in “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits” by arguing that businesses need to focus only on increasing their profits and integrating social responsibility will only hurt them as a company. Since “only people can have responsibilities” (Friedman 52), Friedman argues that businesses as a whole do not have any type of real responsibilities because there is not a singular person for these responsibilities to fall on. Corporate executives are people as well and may feel they have social responsibilities to society but these “are the social responsibilities of individuals, not of business” (51). In terms of corporations, the businessmen are the ones that hold the responsibility of the company. Friedman argues that the only responsibility these managers hold is to those who own the corporation, the shareholders. If the individuals themselves want to contribute to social responsibility they must do it with their own money in their personal lives, but they should not use social responsibility in
I begin this essay by defining CSR, there are many definitions for this term by various different theorists, and EU says that CSR is "A concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis." On the other hand, Sloman et al. define it as "The concept in which a firm takes into account is the interests and concerns of a community rather than just its shareholder". Davis and Blomstrom (1966), say it "Refers to a person’s obligation to consider the effects of his decisions and actions on the whole social system". These definitions differ from one another in many ways but they agree that CSR involves taking the environment into account and therefore, one must look take social responsibility.
The Concept of Shared Value is becoming major point of concern now-a-days. Most businesses are relying on creating shared value. Many renowned companies are focusing on value creation e.g Intel a big Name in Technology has the policy that their every employee attend the seminar based on value creation.( Vadim Kotelnikov) According to World Socialist Movement Capitalism is the process in which the economics of the country is in private ownership.(2006) Capitalism has only lead to economic and societal distress. Many businesses are now viewed as to create many economic, societal and social problems which are becoming difficult to solve. Many businesses are focusing on old ways of creating shared value. Shared value actually is a term used for making such policies and strategies that help the businesses to achieve societal and economic progress of the community in which it operates. (James Epstein-Reeves 2012). There are many opportunities in the society which leads to value creation. Main opportunities involves the basic needs of the society which can be fulfilled by devising innovative ways to produce something that caters to that particular need by cutting the cost that the firm bears. (Porter,Kramer,2011,pp 64-77)
The arguments for and against corporate social responsibility have captured two points of view. Those who believe that organizations should not be concerned about social responsibility base many of their arguments on the costs involved and whether organizations should shoulder those costs on behalf of society. And those who are in favor feel that organizations benefit from society and, therefore, have an obligation to improve it. Although there is no universal agreement, surveys and other reports express that many organizations are, becoming increasingly active in addressing social
The first discussion question posed was, “How does Dr. Friedman characterize discussions on the “social responsibilities of business”? Why (Jennings, 2009, p. 79)? Friedman (1970) characterized the discussions on social responsibilities as one hundred percent unadulterated socialism. Friedman (1970) characterized these discussions in that manner because he felt that a corporate executive should focus solely on making profits and not on social aspects. He mentioned how people who conduct and express themselves in this fashion are positively reinforcing and supporting the actions of individuals that have been weakening the foundational blocks of free society. Friedman (1970) posed a question which was the crux of his 1970 article “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits” where he investigated the true contextual meaning of what responsibilities mean to businesses. Friedman describes how businesses cann...
A corporations CSR should be shaped in order to fit the goals of the corporation, although every corporation’s CSR should differ, since most have different goals and different communities behind them. The CSR should be molded into fitting the corporation’s goals in order to make it easier on the corporation in giving back to the community while achieving its goals. For example, a corporation located in a desert wishes to be more efficient, by reducing water usage it is not only creating lower costs, which result in higher revenue, but also helps the community by not taking up so much water. Taking this into consideration, it is critical that the corporation goals and values are established and clear throughout the corporation, they should be developed by the board or directors and CEO, and the highest managerial level should stress their importance to the rest of the corporation. By making the goals and values at the top branch of the corporate hierarchy, it will be simpler for the corporates community to develop in order to nurture those goals and values. Therefore, a corporation can reach the “shared-value,” a value for both its shareholders and community in a simpler manner that can result benefiting the corporation in the end as well. Throughout the article many examples are given of actual corporations that have benefited and changed their CSR in order to fit their goals, therefore, providing solid proof that these methods work. Nevertheless, as acknowledged by the author’s themselves, most of the corporations taken into consideration where one’s that Harvard CSR students were employed
Business organizations regularly run into demands from various stakeholders groups when conducting day-to-day business. These demands are generated from employees, customers, suppliers, community groups, governments, and shareholders. Thus, according to Goodpaster, any person or group of people that can shape or can be shaped by attainment of the objectives by an organization is considered a stakeholder. Most business organizations recognize and understand their responsibilities to these groups and endeavor to honor and fulfill them. These responsibilities are often communicated to the public by a statement of principles or beliefs. For many business organizations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an essential and integral part of their business. Thus, this paper discusses the two CSR views: the classical view and the stakeholder view. Furthermore, I believe that the stakeholder view has brought ethical concerns to the forefront of businesses, and an argument shall be made that businesses would improve both socially and economically if CSR, guided by God’s love, was integrated into their strategic planning.
Friedman, M. “A Friedman Doctrine – The Social Responsibility of Business is to increase Its Profits”, The New York Times Publications, September 13, 1970
When the problem became serious two main views formed: the “narrow” view and the “broader” view, based on different ideas. The “narrow” view is based on the proposition that corporations have no social responsibility and they have only one main purpose, to make a profit (Friedman, 1970). So corporations should remain socially independent and all conflicts must be solved through the individual responsibility concept. On the contrary the “broader” view states that corporations have social obligations as all existing participants of market, persons and entities are tied together and are mutually dependent. So corporations cannot ignore some serious events or problems, which take place, and must help society, as profit is not their single purpose.
In the current time of growth and progression, individuals should know that how a business not only flourish but sustain itself. Making profit is one of the main targets of every corporates but it must not be the only one. When an individual builds a company in order to do business, they should be well aware of their contribution towards the society as well as their business and employees in it. It is total strategy of all. We should be able to realize every increment contributes of it. One of the major factors that affect a business is how well it participates in Corporate Social Responsibility. According to (Werther & Chandler, 2006) corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to a business practice that involves participating in initiatives that benefits the society. In authenticity, there is a whole lot to argue about it. There are no major guidelines that decides either a business is participating in Corporate Social Responsibility; what might be considered a Business practicing CSR to some, can still not be accepted for it by others. CSR may be restrained a term which his highly flexible. This paper will discuss about Corporate Social Responsibility and its
In the article titled The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits. In the article Milton Friedman has a very interesting take on this topic he said “The whole justification for permitting the corporate executive to be selected by the stockholders is that the executive is a n agent serving the interest of his principal. This justification disappears when the corporate executive imposes taxes and spends the proceeds for “social” purposes. He becomes in effect a public employee, a civil servant; even though he remains in name an employee of a private enterprise”. Friedman concludes in his article that “there is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or
Friedman’s views are that business’ main responsibility is to maximize shareholders wealth and that in doing so, they are being socially responsible. He also contends that corporations are not people and therefore they cannot be responsible for social issues.