Corporate Responsibility
Until the 1950s and 1960
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Until the 1950s and 1960s, businesses generally conducted their operations according to the theory of economist and Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman, who maintained that a corporation's sole purpose was to maximize profits for the benefit of its shareholders (Davis 28-33). Consequently, any expenses for social causes that reduced that profit necessarily violated the corporationÆs mission. However, during the second half of the twentieth century, many business experts began to argue that corporations had a contract with the societies in which they did business. Today, corporations are expected to conduct their business activities in a manner that is responsible to both its internal stakeholders, such as shareholders and employees, as well as external stakeholders, those people outside the company who will be directly or indirectly affected by this activities.Initially, the concept of a contract between a corporation and its social environment was limited to the belief that a corporation would not harm society by operating outside the law. But as the social movements of the 1960s agitated for greater social equity, this increasingly socially aware mindset began to affect consumer opinions of not just social and governmental responsibility, but corporate responsibility as well. In particular, interest groups such as the civil rights and feminist movements, brought into the public eye the way in which complying with the law could actually serve to h
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corporate social responsibility expands a corporationÆs stakeholders to every person and group who can affect or who could be affected by corporate policies and practices. This is clearly an expansion beyond the purely legal and financial responsibilities that corporations were previously expected to fulfill. Corporations today are expected to conduct their activities in such a manner as to minimize any harm and maximize the long-run beneficial impact of the corporation on society (Lantos 595-630).
Despite an obligation to increased social awareness, however, corporationÆs still retain a primary interest in their business mission and their responsibilities to their shareholders. Business experts and ethicists continue to agree that corporate social responsibility must still further corporate goals rather than be purely altruistic and at the shareholdersÆ expense (Lantos 595-630). Thus, to be most effective, a corporationÆs social and community activities must be integrated into its culture and strategy, with a specific desired outcome. Companies that engage in socially responsible activities that make use of their resources in concert with their business activities are most likely to reap the many benefits of socially respo
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Approximate Word count = 1538
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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