PS430 Unit 7 Assignment - For ArkansasWriter Only

Milton Friedman’s mantra (1970)

· “The social responsibility of a business is to increase its profits…

· …so long as it engages in free and open competition without deception or fraud, and…

· …conforms to the basic rules of society, those in the law and in ethical custom.”

· Does not require positive externalities (philanthropy, social benefits)

· Not necessarily “do to others what you would wish done to you”

· Does not excuse negative externalities (exploitation, social harms)

· Necessarily “do not do to others what you would not wish done to you”

Contra-positive argumentation

· If advocating for CSR still seems untenable, how about…

· Opposing Corporate Social Irresponsibility? “Do no harm.”

“Established” rationales for introducing/increasing CSR strategies

· Economic rationale (Efficiency, cost savings, resource availability)

· Opportunity development (Broader marketing, better margins)

· Risk mitigation (Reduce the likelihood of crisis or loss)

· Make-up for “corporate misdemeanor” (Reputation, legitimacy)

· Preferential investing (Growth in “Socially Responsible Investing”)

Q1. What do you feel is the “social responsibility” of any business? Do corporations “owe” society anything more than abiding by the law? What and why?

Q2. What do you feel is the “social responsibility” of a business person? What will you “owe” society other than doing your job lawfully? Why?

Q3. Connect the micro-level insights of (Q2.) to the macro-level of (Q1.) and complete the sentence: “Therefore, …”

Introspection and insightfulness are more important than spelling or grammar.

None limitation, just answer the questions.