Corporate Social Responsibility (Business Ethics) Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility (Business Ethics) - Essay ExampleBarnard (1938) had equivalent argument in mind when he said It seems to me inevitable that the struggle to maintain co-operation among men should as surely destroy some men chastely as battle destroys them physically. (p.278) Such moral beliefs and values gave birth to the organized judgment of CSR.Interestingly not everyone feels the same way. While many support the concept of CSR, there are some thinkers including the well-known economist, Milton Friedman who did not agree with the idea of investing in community work. We shall discuss Friedman later in the paper with greater detail.Ethics has always been an integral part of the way human beings are expected to think and be prevail. For this reason, it has entered the field of business and commerce as well. Many philosophers have posed the question why does a person stock ethically. In the same vein, we can ask, why must a firm behave ethically The answer can com e from religious, moral as well as purely capitalist sources. It is believed that man is expected to behave ethically because it is the augur command, ones duty, or in the words of Kant, an action is considered function only when it is based on a sense of duty. Hence there can be many reasons for explaining the expectation of ethical approach. People like Benjamin Franklin who were more morally inclined felt that business is the pursuit of virtue. That is however a very simplistic way of explaining the expectation of ethics and may not be easily accepted by capitalistic circles. Jackall (1988) on the other fall feels that there is no real morality existing in the firm. The morality we find in a modern firm is based on that right thing which people above you want from you. Corporate social responsibility, while it may be immensely critical, doesnt always come with a serious charge for divulge image in the country. It is usually connected with a desire to perform better in the fi nancial area. In other words, financial gains are an important concern when CSR is being adopted. In many cases, it has been expected to lead to higher trade share. We must make it clear here that these are expectations and existing effects may differ from firm to firm. Some studies have some that in many firms, managers are more likely to adopt and integrate CSR in companys motto and policies if this investment is likely to result in monetary benefits. Managers are willing to invest in CSR related projects because it is expected to result in better financial health and greater monetary situation for the firm. Lydenberg et al. (1986) maintain that Companies fight hard for even a small percentage gain in market share for their products. If and when corporate managers become convinced that their companys social record affects market share, they will be forced to take social initiatives seriously.Social responsibility has similarly become a buzzword because of the availability of lar ge variety of similar goods. When a product comes into the market, it has to fight very hard for consumers attention because there are several other rival goods competing for the same. A marketing and design consultant (Neuborne, 1991) states There was a time when you bought a product just for its price or performance...but with the number of products