Corporate social responsibilities is probably THE major driver of business ethics in universities and in business magazines. As this literature takes us beyond simply following the laws and making profit, as well as beyond individual employees decisions such as whether to blow the whistle or not, many concerns are raised. In this paper, you will have to reconstruct the debate over CSR.

Your paper should be 1400-1600 words and be divided as follows:

Part 1: What is the case against CSR from the right (that CSR asks too much, such as Milton Friedmans)	(0-5 pts)
Part 2: What is the case for CSR (that CSR asks enough and can deliver results, such as in many business ethics textbooks)	(0-5 pts)
Part 3: What is the case against CSR from the left (that CSR doesnt go far enough/does not work well)	(0-5 pts)
Part 4: Which do YOU think is the correct view and why.	(0-5 pts)

-No introduction/conclusion needed.

-You can choose to argue any answer in part 4. You can also disagree with what you think your professor believes. I prefer a well-argued answer to a vague case that happens to be closer to my view.

-Also note that just because one view can be seen as being in the middle of the other two doesnt mean that it is automatically correct, this is not Goldilocks and the Three Bears!

-You can do some research to help you understand the topic, but the assigned texts and our class time give you all the material you need.

By Thomas Ferretti We often think that governments must be the ones in charge of promoting the common good. But in the last few decades, a new consensus emerged around the view that businesses should not only respect the law, but should also take up ethical and social responsibilities voluntarily, even beyond what is required by law. As a result, citizens and NGOs have redirected some of their complaints away from governments and onto major corporations. For example, Nike was denounced in the 1990s for the outrageous working conditions in some of its sweatshops, while British Petroleum was criticized for reckless conduct and negligence after the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Oxfam recently asked food and beverages companies such as Nestle and Coca Cola to better supervise their supply chains by conducting human rights impact assessments, addressing inequalities between men and women in the workplace and protecting communities' land rights. https://www.sudbury.com/columns/right-and-wrong/column-when-it-comes-to-corporate-responsibility-profits-usually-trump-ethics-541730 1/4 24/08/2021 Column: When it comes to corporate responsibility, profits usually trump ethics - Sudbury News Through these experiences emerges the notion corporate social responsibility is undeniably good. However, as pervasive as the notion may be, social action by corporations may fail to do the most good. First, contrary to our governments, corporations do not have any democratic legitimacy to define the common good. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection" (Art. 23, 93). But business executives have little legitimacy, and are facing many conflicting interests when deciding what is a "just and favourable remuneration" or "an existence worthy of human dignity." Moreover, when Coca Cola decides to finance the protection of polar bears for marketing reasons - instead of the more urgent needs of the poorest workers down its supply chain, there is an argument to be made that it is an injustice: The money should go in priority to the ones who need it the most. Corporations cannot claim to act on behalf of "the common good" if they act according to their own agenda, instead of focusing on collective priorities as decided democratically. Second, governments can realize collective goals more efficiently than corporations can. The Canadian government, for instance, can use Statistic Canada's data to design coherent policies and