Corporations do not generally have to make a choice between their responsibility to shareholders and others in society because the two are linked. For instance, corporations also have a responsibility to their customers for two reasons: 1) corporations are held responsible for the implied and actual contracts that exist between themselves and their customers; and 2) satisfying customers is one way corporations make a profit and so fulfill their responsibilities to their shareholders. Corporations have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders and are in effect representing those shareholders in business, producing goods and services, amassing a return on the investment of the shareholders, and returning a share of that return to those shareholders. If the corporation does not act with a sense of responsibility, however, that reflects badly on the corporation and so on the shareholders, reducing their return. This will be considered in terms of the "green" strategy undertaken by many companies to attract customers and to convey a certain image of the company. Corporations have a responsibility both to their shareholders and to customers, and the two responsibilities are intermixed in that failing the customer means failing the shareholders in the long run.
Many businesses today are undertaking what might be called a "green" strategy, or a strategy that takes into account environmental issues. For many of these firms, this is an internal matter involving ways in which they conduct business, handle waste, and deal with employees. For others, it is a key part of their business, and this is particularly true for certain advertising agencies which have tried to include an environmental awareness in the work that they do, even to the point of producing public service spots on the subject. The reference is to so-called "green" businesses, meaning businesses which are in some sense environmentally sensitive. The underlying reason ...