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Relationships between business and society
The relationship between corporate social responsibility and business ethics
Business corporations and society essay
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Recommended: Relationships between business and society
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 …show more content…
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
Andrew Carnegie believes in a system based on principles and responsibility. The system is Individualism and when everyone strives towards the same goals the system is fair and prosperous. Carnegie’s essay is his attempt to show people a way to reach an accommodation between individualism and fairness. This system can only work if everyone knows and participates in his or her responsibilities. I will discuss Carnegie’s thesis, his arguments and the possible results of his goals.
“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.”
To understand this issue from both sides, it is also important to gain a perspective from the corporate finance world. Understanding that the goal of a corporation is to maximize the profits of its shareholders, H.B. Fuller really did not have a social obligation. If, howe...
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).
He has a theory that if an executive of a corporation has “Social Responsibility” in a way, that responsibility influences him to act against the good of his employer (which Friedman states is to make profit). Friedman goes on about an executives’ responsibilities, and how one of them is to satisfy the wants of their stockholders, which includes maximizing profits for these
Where profit is concerned, the idea of social responsibility has always been linked hand in hand. Social responsibility is that ‘X Factor’ in which a business or individual goes beyond the requirement of a law to pursue short and long term goals to benefit society. It is having an interest not only in your wellbeing, but taking into account the interests and concerns of the community as well. Friedman tries to prove that by taking into account social responsibility a business will fail in the long run and has no obligation of social responsibility to begin with. There are two major supporting arguments brought up by Friedman which I will address in this essay. First, that “a corporation is an artificial person and therefore cannot be socially responsible”. Second is that “if social responsibility is exercised it is acting against the shareholders, owners of the business”. In summary, their main goal should be to act in their shareholders' best interests and that acting "responsibly" would ultimately harm a business’s profit and in terns its shareholders in the name of being so...
“A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.” (Milton Friedman). One of the most significant economists in the world is considered to be Milton Friedman. Milton Friedman, born on July 31, 1912, in New York, to a working-class family of Jewish Hungarian immigrants, was educated at Rutgers University and at the University of Chicago. Friedman is mostly known for his support for free markets, advocacy of capitalism, and as one of the most influential American economists of the twentieth century. He was also a statistician and a public intellectual, and became a professor of Economics at Chicago University. For several years, countless economists, politicians and regular people believed that governments should play the key role in preparation of how a nation’s economy should work. Friedman showed that government’s involvement usually produces less economic growth, less stability and creates greater limits on citizens’ freedoms. Throughout his theories and ideas he showed how a government can help better itself and provide its’ citizens more freedom. Some of his theories include the theory of monetarism, the quantity theory of money, privatization, and deregulation. His contributions, such as a government’s floating exchange rate and military, still have a great influence on many countries. Throughout Friedman’s career, he had a huge affect on the economy and will continue to.
...ty. Ignoring this obligation can be bad to a business no matter how you look at it. The business becomes valuable when it can uphold social responsibilities while at the same time maximizing profits. Man made the business, business did not make the man, therefore we must rule and reign over it responsibly.
...mmunity. In addition, businesses should not play by their own rules because they would put rules to their own advantage and ignore consumer’s rights. There is no doubt that businesses want to motivate themselves to maximize profits; however, that should not be acceptable it the consumers livelihood is at stake. Businesses and organizations influence the community at large therefore they should be responsible for their community and indeed implement ethical behavior.
The Facts: Kermit Vandivier works for B.F. Goodrich. His job assignment was to write the qualifying report on the four disk brakes for LTV Aerospace Corporation. LTV purchased aircraft brakes from B.F. Goodrich for the Air Force. Goodrich desperately wanted the contract because it guaranteed a commitment from the Air Force on future brake purchases for the A7D from them, even if they lost money on the initial contract.
The common saying is, “money makes the world go around”, but businesses cannot operate without people to spend the money or the environment to create the raw materials needed to create what the business is attempting to create to make the money “rotate”. This is why a social responsible is not the only responsible that a business should have to not only preserve the organizations profitability, but to make an ethical stand for society and the environment.
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.
“In addition to his intellect, he had a strong work ethic, an engaging personality, and an excellent sense of humor” (Ebenstein 1). This is what Lanny Ebenstein said when writing his biography on Milton Friedman. For those of you who don’t know who that is, (which is probably all of you) Milton Friedman was a very well known economist in the 1900’s. For those of you who don’t know what an economist is, an economist is an expert in the world of economics. Along with being an economist, he taught as a professor at many universities and wrote many books on the free market. Some of his most notable achievements include, the Nobel Prize for Economics, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science for Behavioral and Social Sciences.
In order to address the issue of right or wrong, the crucial starting point for business is the question of whether companies are actors who have to make decisions beyond simply producing goods and services on a profitable basis. The point is, if organizations are providing us great products and services to fulfill our needs and desires, hire best human resource to produce them and pay taxes on time, aren’t they are making a noticeable contribution to the society or do corporations have a moral responsibility, similar to what we as individuals have towards the society? Are organizations bound by a business conduct or ‘business ethics’ to keep practicing in the world? Questions on how to manage employees fairly, what are ethical responsibilities towards society, or what continues deception in advertising, are of equal importance for organizations such as Greenpeace, any democrat party; as they are for Volkswagen, Nestle, or Cadbury’s.
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...