If A Business Wants To Maximise Profit

Submitted By Scooner123
Words: 1625
Pages: 7
Open Document
‘If a business wants to maximise profit, it cannot be concerned with corporate social responsibility’
Throughout time, humans have continually expressed the fears and concerns of their era through different forms of expression. These concerns have highlighted the plights and struggles of generations and give an understanding to their views of topical issues of their time. An issue prevalent today within our fast-paced and rapidly expanding society is one of Corporate Social Responsibility, with booming organisations finally having the spotlight shinning down on them, as they are forced to make the often not popular choice of maximising revenue or being socially responsible. Corporate social responsibility refers to the continuing commitment by companies to behave ethically and to contribute to economic development, while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their family, as well as the local community and society large. Whilst previously large companies were able to ignore their social responsibility and exploit their markets and suppliers, nowadays in an enlightened era of reporting and human rights these businesses are no longer able to conceal their unethical practices and are questioned on their action.1 Thus, we have revealed that the crux of the argument lies not only in a business’ drive to maximise profit but also in lieu of their increased publicity and public awareness to their ethical corporate practices.
“Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility. “2 (Bierce, 1911). This extract from renowned 1900’sreporter and writer Ambrose Bierce is effective in identifying the view that Corporate America and the world felt about corporate social responsibility. Bierce was indefinitely one of the first of many reporters to come, that challenged the facades of large companies who looked at ever point to exploit the working class or the poorly legislated surrounding countries. During this time Bierce fought against the exploitation of African American workers who were forced to work at below minimum pay in back breaking conditions. This was an abhorrent injustice by companies; however, with most of the public living blissfully unaware these reports of lack of social responsibility fell to deaf ears. John D. Rockefeller’s booming oil industry ‘Standard Oil’3 (Seymor E. Harris, 2012)has soon become a major topic of discussion in relation to the lack of social responsibility shown towards not only their workers but also natives around their oil sites. Standard Oil has been accused of exploiting cheap illegal labour in order to build the routes of their oil wells and in manipulating the rights of the natives of the land by forcing them to work also with minimal pay. Standard Oil was the biggest Oil industry in America in the early 1900’s and some believe is it due to the lack of regard for social responsibility, as they were able to obtain over 95% of the refining capacity in the United States due to their sheer pace in going through and setting up their sites.4 Standard Oil, dismantled in 1911 to form hundreds of separate entities that would continue the oil refinery job in the United States. And though they and Mr Rockefeller were never made accountable for their supposed obscene lack of social responsibility people worldwide are now coming to terms of how ethically wrong some of their practices were. This in fact led by many reporters is now looking to compensate misled natives who gave up their land around the Texas region. Therefore, we have been able to identify through the works of Bierce and Harris and other academic sources that though a business may not immediately have to account for their unethical practices, they or their predecessors will inevitably be liable due to this new age of reporting and human rights involvement.
On the other hand, companies nowadays have begun realise the advantages of being socially responsibly these days and have begun to
Show More

Related Documents: If A Business Wants To Maximise Profit

Csr Toyota Essay

Assignment 1 / Essay Assignment question: It is sometime suggested that CSR activities are increasing strategic in that it affects that core business of the firm and its growth, profitability and survival? Drawing on an example of a corporation/company (National/ International), discuss this in the context of business strategies, in particular on the issues of competitive advantage and firm performance. Introduction In this essay, we will discuss why organizations began CSR and how it is…

Words 1780 - Pages 8

Csr Report Essay

CSR EVALUATION ALCOA & RIO TINTO Monday, February 4, 13 1 INDUSTRY OVERVIEW Monday, February 4, 13 2 Outlook for Aluminium Industry Aluminium represents the second largest metals market in the world Growing demand for the lightweight metal is largely fueled by the booming Chinese economy Stricter CO2 emission requirements will be introduced Rising prices for substitute metals such as Zinc and Copper Due to large consumer demand and wealthy consumers, the Aluminium industry…

Words 947 - Pages 4

Essay on Sport CSR

of enforcing corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR can be defined as the social responsibility of business that encompasses the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time (Carroll, 1979). An example of an organization that delivers this definition of CSR is an NHL hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. We argue that sport can be an effective way for companies to implement CSR. In the article titled “Sport as a Vehicle for…

Words 2541 - Pages 11

CSR in singapore Essay

Business, Government and Society Individual Assignment: Is CSR in Singapore real or lip service? Is CSR in Singapore real or a lip service? Since independence, the Singapore government has established several regulations and codes of practices in the fields of corporate governance, industrial relations, safety standards, pollution control etc. and companies are expected to meet these requirements. This had led to the adoption of implicit CSR practices in Singapore companies, with a narrow emphasis…

Words 1639 - Pages 7

Csr Critical Essay

results towards business, environment and society (CSR Singapore Compact 2005). Implementation of corporate social responsibility concept within the businesses means the businesses will always try their best to give positive outcomes to the society, which give satisfaction to the people and may build a good reputation to the company. The three main responsibilities and roles usually discussed are in the perspective of business, social and environment (CSR Singapore Compact 2005). Despite the fact that…

Words 1943 - Pages 8

Astrazeneca and Csr Essay

In this essay I am going to look at AstraZeneca PLC one of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies. By describing several relevant cases and commenting on them I will try to evaluate the extent to which the Company acts under the principles framing its corporate governance and corporate social responsibility policies. To give brief overview, AstraZeneca PLC, formed on April 6, 1999, by the merger of British Zeneca Group PLC and Swedish Astra AB, is one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies…

Words 1722 - Pages 7

Essay on CSR Speaker Notes

MGMT 1000 Week 4 – including CSR Guest Speakers Vicious Loops: eg. ebola vicious loop becomes virtuous loop bc ppl who are helped will help others Negative aspects of profit motive: Is profit motive a source of vicious loops? exploit environmental resources invest in child labour/outsourcing start looking for profit, end up losing it employment in domestic economy ppl start trusting brand less GREED LEADS TO SHORT TERM THINKING (no thinking of bottom line) corruption How to turn profit problem…

Words 369 - Pages 2

CSR report of baidu Essay

applying Carroll’s three dimensions model of CSR with combining stakeholder management approach into the corporate social performance assessment, it is questionable to say whether Baidu is qualified to be a good corporate citizen. As Baidu’s CSR report doesn’t reveal the most critical issues or related solutions, such as censorship and key word bidding promotion system. By implementing…

Words 3451 - Pages 14

Essay about Csr: Corporate Social Responsibility and Csr

Yen-Bei Lin Instructor: Breena E. Coates MGMT 335 Feb. 10 2015 According to our textbook, “corporate social responsibility (CSR) means that a corporation should act in a way that enhances society and its inhabitants and be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment.” (Lawrence and Weber 49) Besides, the Triple Bottom Line Concept of John Elkington, a company should be responsible for its social, environmental and financial performances, which…

Words 535 - Pages 3

Ikea Csr Essay

| | IKEAMGT301 CSR Case Study Report | | Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 Introduction 2 Company History and Overview 3 Vision, Objective and Values 4 Meaning of Sustainability to IKEA 5 CSR Issues and Criticism 6 Why IKEA sought to address the issues through CSR 12 How IKEA sought to address the issues through CSR 13 The Natural Step 15 Public Response 17 Cultural Change Within IKEA 18 Evaluation of the Strategic Element of IKEA’s CSR Practice 22 Conclusion…

Words 4895 - Pages 20