The Corporation is a Canadian documentary film written by Joe Bakan, a law professor from British Columbia University and directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott in 2003. Many issues related to the corporate world were discussed in the film including corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR is generally quite a new concept being within the corporate industry where the recognition of the need to implement such theory within the business operations has only been widely practiced in recent times. Developed countries like France, Canada, United States and United Kingdom all have different interpretation of what’s CSR actually means due to their social and cultural differences while most of them seem to recognize the significance of triple-bottom …show more content…
This is of course is not an applicable concept is we refer to the Non-Profits Organizations (NGOs) who devoted their life to the cause of doing good for the environment, society or even animals. The problem with maximization of profits is business sometimes decided to externalize the costs in the efforts to minimize their operation costs hence maximizing the profits. This is called externalities, as shown in the movie, where the effects of carrying out one transaction which then had to be borne by a third party who have no part in the transaction at all. For example, a paper mill might decide to reduce operation costs by dumping the chemical waste of its factory into the nearest river and in doing so polluting the environment which then will impact the living organism within the river compound and affect the residents within the polluted radius. The dumping of the waste is obviously against the law and conflicted with the economic theory being proposed but this has come out from the result of profit maximization intend. This will be further discussed in the following …show more content…
It can be said that the movie has provided examples of where corporations have questionable moral standards when it comes to making, selling and maximizing financial returns to the shareholders. From a moral minimum perspective, the corporations have failed to live up to the theory’s expectations.
The Strategic Sustainability Model
The Strategic Sustainability Model states that the future financial well-being of each company is directly depends to the questions of how that company impact and being impacted by the natural environment. The company’s financial target should well-adjusted against, and maybe in some cases over-ridden by environmental considerations (DesJardins, 2014). As preached by Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface in the movie, The Corporation:
It is our plan, it remains our plan to climb Mount Sustainability, that mountain is higher than Everest, infinitely higher than Everest, far more difficult to scale. That point at the top symbolizing zero footprint (Achbar & Abbott,
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the way a corporation achieves a balance between its economic, social, and environmental responsibilities in its operations so as to address shareholder and other stakeholder expectations. In general, when firms hold this wider encouraging role on the public by being engaged with stakeholders, a variety of profit can be produced for both company and the stakeholders. A key inclination is the combination of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into the organization strategy, culture, mission and communications. By incorporating corporate citizenship into the company it is no longer an additional “nice thing to do” or something made to obey laws or regulations. Instead, corporate responsibility has become something business leaders and workforce want to engage in, frequently because executives who believe in the long-term see business profit. The four types of social responsibilities a...
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a movement that aims to promote a greater awareness of how business activities and decisions influence corporate environment, stakeholders, and society in general. Adam Lindgreen and Valerie Swaen’s article “Corporate Social Responsibility” addresses this broad topic in a more narrow direction of CSR implementation as it discusses the most important stages of this process. While this article relies only on the previous research, it provides unique insights into CSR and even challenges the common views of this concept as the authors thoroughly analyze their secondary sources.
The earliest impressions that the book makes on the mind of the reader is that “Corporate Social Responsibility” is not just about some kind of vague theories but supports all that it preaches with practical applications. Labelling the book as “a Bible for today’s corporate citizen”- as the publisher does on the flap of the book- may be stretching it a bit too far, but “Corporate Social Responsibility”, does provide thoughtful answers to a number of vital questions on how a corporation could do most good for itself and its
Corporate social responsibility is globally defined as operating a business in a way that meets or exceeds the ethical, legal, commercial and public expectations that society has of business. The concern of CSR has drastically increased over the last two decades. It has enhanced interactions between governments, businesses, society and internationally. In the past, businesses primarily focus themselves with the economic results of their decisions. Now, businesses must also reflect on the legal, ethical, moral and social consequences of their decisions. Corporate Social Responsibility is no longer defined by how much money a company contributes to charity, but by its overall involvement in activities that improve the quality of people’s lives.
1993): 55-65. In Beachamp, Tom L., and Norman Bowie (eds). Ethical Theory and Business. 7th edition.
“Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large” (Holme and Watts (2000) p.8). For many years business have cared solely on money however in recent years businesses have started to take interest in CSR and helping society welfare. This paper will discuss if Corporate Social Responsibility is likely to become a game changer in the near future.
Jeff Butcher and Rachel Hill pointed out the impacts of businesses on environments, by stating “The more of a product that is consumed or produced, the more of an externality that results” (Butcher, Jeff, & Hill, Rachel, 2006). Obviously, we can see that one product produced will bring benefit to consumer, sellers, and manufacturers. Meanwhile, one produced and consumed will cause negative externalities for environment. There is one fact we cannot deny that the more social life develops, the more externalities will be produced to the society. Daily living garbage, industrial wastes, carbon dioxide from factories are most outstanding examples to describe negative externalities to environment (Butcher, Jeff, & Hill, Rachel, 2006). In “The tragedy of the Commons”, Hardin showed us causes of negative externalities. He proved that people assume a...
It is contended that a business should only focus on making profit and most of the businesses think business ethics costs too much to put up with, but being ethical and socially responsible is necessary for companies. Business ethics is a group of moral principles in the business environment. Many factors of business environment can cause corporates to act unethical such as competition, the urge to make profit and selfishness. Generating revenue is vital for corporates, that’s unquestionable, but competi...
When global and domestic corporations fail to abide by a strong ethical code it puts them jeopardy at the potential collapse in their company. This happens when shareholders lose trust in the corporations decisions and ability to retain or expand their growth margins. The agenda of every corporation should always include the success of its company, shareholders, and surrounding communities. Utilitarianism is probably the most widely accepted code of ethics. This code of ethics is the most practical approach because it is known to create the least amount of suffering to the individuals and communities that are directly connected to the corporation. It would be very unethical for a company to participate or engage in activities, deals, or transactions that create widespread suffering to its communities just for the simple reason of maximizing profits. Unfortunately, there are several large global corporations that not only condone in this behavior, but also participate in
For as long as we have lived some business has been known to destroy the earth’s natural environment for their own selfish reasons, without showing any concern of who or what might be affected from their decisions. Environmental conscience means to have a sense of what is right and wrong with in the environment. In the article “Business and Environmental Ethics” by W. Michael Hoffman debates that business has a moral obligation to develop an environmental conscience and to participate in solving environmental problems. In the film ‘The Corporation” it argues that it is not even possible for a corporation to develop an environmental conscience at all. In this essay I will explain how W. Michael Hoffman argue his position and why the film “The
In a Harvard Business Review (HBR) article, “Why Sustainability is now the Key Driver of Innovation”, the contributors argue against the common view: that as businesses become more environmentally friendly they become less competitive and profitable (Nidumolu, Prahalad, & Rangaswami, 2009) The contributors go on to say that companies who initiate environmental sustainability will develop competencies that competitors won’t be able to match and that ultimately, “sustainability will always be an integral part of development” (Nidumolu et al., 2009). In the year 2016, their statements are still valid and applicable to the biggest corporations in America. The largest corporation by revenue in America with over 482 billion dollars is Walmart (“Wal-Mart”).
Corporate responsibility can best be described as the specification of all the collective systems that are needed to support a business’s functionality, environmental and shareholders activity (Best practices guide, 2014) Most importantly, however is that it can dictate how a business will actually co-operate (Jan Marchant, 2013) within their industry or law boundaries. Quite simply it can be summed up as aligning moral integrity with new management styles of the 21st century (Bill George, 2010).
BUAD2172 Movie Reviews For each of the assigned movies, you will complete a Movie Review and turn it into GA View by the time designated in your Course Schedule. 1. Summary of the Movie. a. The movie Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room is a documentary about how the seventh largest company went from $65M in assets to bankrupt in a month. The story generally focuses on the masterminds at the top that created this smoke show, knowing what they were doing was illegal and usually at the cost of the average American. They didn’t care because greed, arrogance, and pride fueled them. The main focus of this story is on Chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay and COO Jeff Skilling. The film shows video footage of these men on trial, secret footage of business
It is known that corporations play a large part in making the world go around. Many times we read, hear or see stories on companies and why something was done a certain way. The film “The Corporation” has given a whole new insight to not only how businesses operate but what motivates them and their decisions that they make to keep their businesses thriving.
Important companies like Shell, DuPont, BP has been reorganised to generate profits from this green market of goods and services. In this sense, it may sound altruistic, "the sustainability", the logic of profitability and competition is what will determine the ability of companies of the future to meet the changing needs of consumers.