Milton Friedman raised the argument that the social responsibility of business is to increase profits. He supported his argument through the use of various points that he raised. An analysis of the arguments by looking at some of the points and counterpoints shows that business should take part in corporate social responsibility other than simply making profits.
|
Point |
Counterpoint |
| Corporations are not human beings and thus cannot have ethical responsibilities and morality. | Corporations are managed by human beings who should abide by ethics and morality. Morality is made of rules that deal with how people treat one another and these set of rules can be extended to institutions. |
| Corporate executives have direct responsibility to shareholders and should thus meet their obligations of only making profit. |
Corporate executives are responsible for their actions and apart from simply following shareholder orders, have to follow ethical and moral principles and override their responsibility to shareholders. In case of a wrongdoing, most executives today are held liable and the excuse of simply following orders is not tolerated. |
| Corporations are limited and are thus ill-equipped to serve public good adequately. | According to the observations of Anderson, the small efforts undertaken by large corporations can make tangible effects that can be used to benefit both the current and the future society immeasurably. |
| Corporate social responsibility can threaten the society with socialism. | Socialism is not entirely evil. The current society has several problems which can be solved by both capitalism and socialism to ensure that there is an equal distribution of goods |
| The best way for corporations to serve the public welfare is through the pursuit of profits. | Corporations can serve the public in different ways other than simply making profits. Corporations that ensure production of goods protects the environment serve the public welfare by reducing pollution which can cause diseases. |
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