Business & Society

On the social ans moral obligations of Business

As we examined in Module 9 different scholars have very different ideas about the social and moral obligations of business. On the one hand, we have writers like Friedman, who argue that businesses are set up to generate profit for their owners (e. shareholders in corporations) and thus that the primary ethical obligation of business is simply to maximize profits, while also following all applicable laws and avoiding commissions of fraud or deception. It is not that Friedman opposes charities and social initiatives: it is that he believes that those who want to support these things ought to use their own funds for those efforts. If the owner of a profitable business wants to use her proceeds from the business to support charities, that is great. On the other hand, if the Board of Directors of a Corporation directs some of the profits that should belong to the shareholders towards some pet charities of their own that should in fact be considered unethical On the other hand, we have some proponents of corporate social responsibility (CSR) who argue that since prohts are ultimately derived from interactions with the rest of society, that businesses have social obligations beyond just following the law and operating honestly. Similarly, proponents of stakeholder theories of business have argued that business is all about building relationships between buyers and sellers, between employers and employees: between suppliers and producers, etc, etc, and hence that businesses should be about building value for all involved This forum is set up for you to discuss these things as well as your take on the social and moral obligations of business