Book ChapterDOI
The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits
Milton Friedman
- pp 173-178
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When I hear businessmen speak eloquently about the social responsibilities of business in a free-enterprise system, I am reminded of the wonderful line about the Frenchman who discovered at the age of 70 that he had been speaking prose all his life as mentioned in this paper.Abstract:
When I hear businessmen speak eloquently about the “social responsibilities of business in a free-enterprise system”, I am reminded of the wonderful line about the Frenchman who discovered at the age of 70 that he had been speaking prose all his life. The businessmen believe that they are defending free enterprise when they declaim that business is not concerned “merely” with profit but also with promoting desirable “social” ends; that business has a “social conscience” and takes seriously its responsibilities for providing employment, eliminating discrimination, avoiding pollution and whatever else may be the catchwords of the contemporary crop of reformers. In fact they are — or would be if they or anyone else took them seriously -preaching pure and unadulterated socialism. Businessmen who talk this way are unwitting puppets of the intellectual forces that have been undermining the basis of a free society these past decades.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
Corporate Social Responsibility: a Theory of the Firm Perspective
TL;DR: In this article, the authors outline a supply and demand model of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and conclude that there is an "ideal" level of CSR, which managers can determine via cost-benefit analysis.
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Misery Loves Companies: Rethinking Social Initiatives by Business:
TL;DR: The authors argue that companies are increasingly asked to provide innovative solutions to deep-seated problems of human misery, even as economic theory instructs managers to focus on maximizing their shareholders' wealt.
Journal ArticleDOI
Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? an institutional theory of corporate social responsibility
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose an institutional theory of corporate social responsibility consisting of a series of propositions specifying the conditions under which corporations are likely to behave in socially responsible ways, and argue that the relationship between basic economic conditions and corporate behavior is mediated by several institutional conditions: public and private regulation, the presence of nongovernmental and other independent organizations that monitor corporate behaviour, institutionalized norms regarding appropriate corporate behavior, associative behavior among corporations themselves, and organized dialogues among corporations and their stakeholders.
Journal ArticleDOI
Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory
Elisabet Garriga,Domènec Melé +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors classify the main CSR theories and related approaches in four groups: (1) instrumental theories, in which the corporation is seen as only an instrument for wealth creation, and its social activities are only a means to achieve economic results; (2) political theories, which concern themselves with the power of corporations in society and a responsible use of this power in the political arena; (3) integrative theories, focusing on the satisfaction of social demands; and (4) ethical theories based on ethical responsibilities of corporations to society.
Journal ArticleDOI
How corporate social responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions
TL;DR: In this paper, five dimensions of CSR are developed through a content analysis of existing CSR definitions, and frequency counts are used to analyse how often these dimensions are invoked, concluding that the existing definitions are to a large degree congruent.
References
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Journal Article
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