Corporate Social Responsibility:

Chapter 2: The Case For and Against CSR

Links to Further Reading

Friedman, M. 1970. The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. The New York Times Magazine, 13 September 1970: 70-71; 122-126.

http://search.proquest.com/docview/117933451?accountid=8018

This short magazine article is a classic in the CSR literature. It is a frequently cited cornerstone of arguments against CSR from a management perspective. It is based on the assumption that private companies have a very specific, economic mandate in society. Beyond this mandate the impact of business on society should not be at the discretion of unaccountable managers but in the hands of publicly elected and accountable governments.

Banerjee, S. B. 2007. Corporate social responsibility: the good, the bad and the ugly. Critical Sociology, 34(1): 51-79.

http://crs.sagepub.com/content/34/1/51

This academic analysis offers a thorough critique of CSR from the school of thought of ‘critical management’. As such Bobby Banerjee comes to conclusions which on the surface are similar to Friedman’s and Karnani’s above. The foundations of his arguments though are rather different and his critique is more radical: CSR in this paper is not just a misnomer or a misconstrued venture for the public good; rather it is unpacked as the very tool that disguises and enables forms of corporate irresponsibility and exploitation.

Links to Practice

CWS 2.1 Visit the Companion Website for links to more material on the historical development of CSR.

“Cadbury: The Legacy in Birmingham,” is a BBC article (UK) which traces the key social developments in the history of this global confectionery company, including pioneering philanthropic achievements dating back to 1800s: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/birmingham/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8412000/8412655.stm
Scotiabank is a Canadian-based bank which boasts over 175 years of operating CSR programmes, such as supporting the well-being of its communities: http://www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/files/11/09/history_of_scotiabank_corporate_responsibility.pdf
(VIDEO) “A Brief History of Doing Well by Doing Good,” this short video from Harvard Business Review’s blog network traces the development in responsible business: http://blogs.hbr.org/video/2012/06/a-brief-history-of-doing-well.html

CWS 2.2 Visit the Companion Website for links to more on the financial crisis as well as to a number of movies which have been made based on the events on Wall Street during this period.

(FILM) “Inside Job,” this award winning documentary film explores how policy changes and banking practices led to the financial crisis of 2008: http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/
(FILM) “Margin Call,” this American independent drama film takes place over a 36 hour period and highlights the initial stages of the 2008 financial crisis: http://margincallmovie.com/
“Ethics Angle Missing in Financial Crisis Debate,” this article argues that a broad ethical discussion of what is the right and wrong thing to do in a modern economy, is missing from financial crisis debates: http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/03/04/us-finance-ethics-analysis-idUSTRE6231H320100304

CWS 2.3 Visit the Companion Website for links to more material on the ‘race to the bottom’ by companies looking for lower social and environmental standards.

“Cities and Globalization: A Race to the Bottom,” this report by UN-HABITAT finds that the ‘fruits of globalization” are not offered to the poor: http://www.unhabitat.org/documents/media_centre/sowc/Featurerace.pdf
“TheRacetotheBottom.org,” is a professional, faculty and student collaborated blog offering discussions on issues of corporate governance: http://www.theracetothebottom.org/