Discussion

Classmate 1: Social responsibility cannot be separated from corporate ethics. Social responsibility is a key aspect of an ethically responsible corporation and is often linked to other aspects of corporate ethics, such as responsibility to employees, responsibility to the environment, responsibility to the public, and responsibility to shareholders. It may involve a concern for the overall well-being of the company’s stakeholders (the people or group that the company serves, and to which it must remain accountable). Social responsibility may also refer to a particular business policy that an individual firm may adopt and implement to benefit its stakeholders, such as paying a fair share of taxes. Social responsibility also relates to the firm’s responsibility to the community at large. In an era of social scrutiny of firms, public perceptions of the role of corporate social responsibility can influence how public investors judge firms and whether they may want to invest in them. Corporate social responsibility and corporate responsibility, as corporate ethics, can overlap, but can also be complementary in certain respects. According to one argument, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not a different concept or a second-tier concept. It is an element of a single conceptual universe (business ethics), which embraces three key elements (the core values of business ethics) and two additional elements (social and environmental dimensions) (Smith, 2007).

The principles of running a business and operating within the state and federal laws must be mutually exclusive to survive the demands of the marketplace. In other words,  must either choose to operate in accordance with all laws and regulations as well as Christian principles or  must choose to operate in accordance with Christian principles, but not in accordance with state and federal laws and regulations. If  operate within state and federal laws and regulations, the marketplace will quickly reject  business practices as immoral, which would hurt the image of  company in the marketplace. For example, a company that sells pornography is rejected by the marketplace and thus, is unlikely to make a profit. Therefore, your company must either conform to the laws and regulations or else be rejected by the marketplace. If a company chooses to operate according to Christian principles and conform to all laws and regulations, the marketplace will be impressed by this and accept the company as moral. In the long run, this decision will be good for  company and  employees

Classmate 2:

The company that will gain profit from social responsibility will see a decrease in profit due to the risk of losing clients and investors. In order to maximize shareholder wealth, the company must do this through ethical means and this allows its stock to rise in the future. Ethical decision making would suggest that the most efficient business strategy is to maximise share holders wealth. There are however many social causes which are important to society. For example, environmental protection and the preservation of life are an extremely important cause, and this cause has the potential to cost the company millions of pounds. This however will not necessarily impact the share holders wealth. Businesses are obligated to care for the welfare of their customers and the people that they employ. The shareholders wealth must be weighed up against the welfare of the public. While corporate social responsibility often implies environmental and human responsibilities, corporate ethical action can also be profitable. This example supports the point that ethical action may be used to improve corporate performance, for the benefit of the company and share holders, whereas not meeting ethical standards could be detrimental to performance and profitability. This example supports that "corporate social responsibility (CSR) is often considered to imply "environmental responsibility". CSR in this context refers to the implementation of policies and practices that help the company improve its reputation, as it influences and relates to the environment. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a widely used term in today's business world, even though there is no widely accepted definition for it. CSR can be defined as "an approach to business management that requires an assessment of how an enterprise's decisions and actions affect its social and environmental performance, and of how it can improve its social and environmental performance". It is therefore, more specifically "the practice of being responsible to society and the environment by means of ethical, socially concerned and ecological conduct" (Jamali, 2008).

In the process of running a successful business, it is not difficult to identify the difference between the legal requirements for how the business is structured and how the business operates. As we have learned from the discussion of the Christian business model, God operates His business to be a good and profitable enterprise and to make a profit. Therefore, the Christian business model uses both the legalities and the practicalities of doing business to make a profit