Social Responsibility Essay

2170 Words5 Pages

“The Cost of Doing the Right Thing.” A Comparative Study on the Relationship between Social Responsibility and Financial Performance I. Introduction Ethics are defined as moral principles that govern a person, or groups, behavior. This simple explanation of ethics becomes extremely complex when adding additional variable such as an organization and its financials. Are organizations that primarily focus on their monetary situation maintaining their moral principles? Finding a correlation between corporate ethics (also referred to as social responsibility) and a firm’s fiscal performance is not easy feat. There are various viewpoints to question of the affect of the general ethical theory of corporate social responsibility. Weighing the possibilities of either a positive impact or trade-off leaves every organization in a puzzled state as they undergo their day-to-day operations. Social responsibility is an ethical theory that states an organization has a duty to ensure continuous welfare to society as a whole. The idea is that these entities must maintain a balance on the equilibrium through its outputs to both the economy and ecosystem. Socially responsible companies are those who go past what is required by government or environmental groups. In today’s world where global issues such as global warming and poverty continue to become more concerning for the public, it is even more important for companies to ensure the welfare of society. The other variable of this question is financial performance. This portion is measured quantitatively rather than through action. This is measured by analyzing a company’s financial statement; this will then allow determination of whether they are profitable, marginal, or unprofitable. Of the thre... ... middle of paper ... ...representation of these firms performance through tracking over time. V. Conclusion The goal of this paper has been to figure out the relationship between company or corporation’s social responsibility and their financial performance. This is important because we live in an era where global issues such as global warming, poverty, and agriculture are so continuing to become more germane. Environmental awareness is continuing to become more imperative. This starts the top (corporate social responsibility) down (individuals recycling). If information about social responsibility is proven and available, companies in industries with confirmed benefits will continue to increase their participation if not already doing so. And for those who do not, the government can focus on creating restrictions, mandates, taxes, fines, or public ridicules to gain their contribution.

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