INTL 710 - Deconstructing Friedman's CSR Argument and Debate

This essay summarizes Milton Friedman's argument against corporate social responsibility (CSR), stating that a company's sole responsibility is to maximize profits within legal and ethical boundaries. It presents and argues for and against specific quotes from Friedman's article, further analyzing concepts such as the relationship between people, corporations, and government, the impact of profit on hiring practices, and the role of trade unions. The essay references the assigned reading and provides a student's critical reaction to Friedman's perspective within the context of an INTL 710 classroom debate, now available for review and study on Desklib, your go-to platform for academic resources.

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Summarize the Friedman's argument re CSR. No more than 4 statements.
Friedman argues that corporate social responsibility is basically an important subversive doctrine
in a typical community. He argues that in a free society there exist only a single corporate social
responsibility of a particular business enterprise, which is to properly utilize its resources and
actively participate in operations that are specifically aimed to maximize on its profits (Schwartz,
& Saiia, 2012) This is applied only if the business acts intravires and participates in an open and
fee rivalry when competing with other firms dealing with the same products or services. It should
also not act in illegal business such as deception and fraudulent activities within the market.
Report 2quotes that you may argue for &2quotes that you may argue against with why you
are for or against each.
quotes
“One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their
results.”
"Businessmen believe that they are defending free enterprise when they proclaim that business is
not concerned merely with profit but also promoting desirable social ends”
3. What is your reaction to the following concepts as reported in the article?
• People versus corporates versus government
Friedman compares the business, stakeholders with the existing social rules to various
government authorities (Ni, & Van Wart, 2015). Consisting of a structure of the board of
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directors, corporate officers, there required to make profits considering the government laws and
regulations.
• Profit and hiring
The firms are expected to make supernormal profits hence making it difficult to take into account
the salaries, training costs and recruitment of employees.In the article, Milton (1970) various
concepts such as employee safety
• Trade Unions ‘role
Friedman's statements hurt the corporate image of goodwill in the public domain thus making it
difficult for corporates to enter in to trade unions and making it problematic for them to fight for
the rights of firms. It creates cognitive troubles or conflict between managers with the trade
unions.
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References
Ni, A., & Van Wart, M. (2015). Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing Well and Doing Good.
In Building Business-Government Relations (pp. 175-196). Routledge.
Schwartz, M. S., & Saiia, D. (2012). Should Firms Go "Beyond Profits"? Milton Friedman
versus Broad CSR 1. Business and Society Review, 117(1), 1-31.
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