Business Ethics and Social Responsibility

One would imagine that if we were all placed on this earth together, we would all help each other, but that isn’t always the case. As human beings, we should help one another, but from a business standpoint we must have the business’s best interest first. We cannot put all the blame onto the business’s that contribute to our society, when they aren’t always the one’s to blame, maybe we are. According to Milton Friedman, “In a free-enterprise, private-property sys¬tem, a corporate executive is an employee of the owners of the business. He has direct re¬sponsibility to his employers. That responsi¬bility is to conduct the business in accordance with their desires, which generally will be to make as much money as possible while con¬forming to

As human begins, we do not want to see unjust or unethical actions taken upon other’s, or ourselves, especially by business’s we contribute too. However, we need to understand that the business’s, or employee’s, first concern is not social responsibility. If a business is making profit, in a lawful manner, it is already contributing to its consumers and its society. Friedman states in his book Capitalism and Freedom, “in a free society, and have said that in such a society, ‘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 fraud.’” (Friedman, pg 6). Meanwhile, Mintzberg argues that there has a to be a balance between the greed and helping one another. “The point is not that concern for other’s is suddenly going to replace self-interest, but that there has to be a balance between the two.” (Mintzberg, pg 67). I don’t believe there could be an equal balance because the business is already contributing to the society, if they stay within the law. Mintzberg tries to put all the blame on the business’s by stating they are greedy, and are always wanting more money, but what if it is the other way around. Maybe the case is that us, as a society, are greedy and are always expecting more from these business’s, believing they should give back to the