Milton Friedman And The Social Responsibility Of Business...

Step 1: Summarize the major arguments of Friedman and Freeman et al. on CSR A. â€Å"The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits†, written by Milton Freeman (1970). Milton Friedman took a â€Å"Shareholder Approach† to social responsibility. This approach asserts that shareholders advance capital to a company’s managers, who are supposed to spend corporate funds only in ways that have been authorized by the shareholders. Friedman wrote: There is one and only one social responsibility of business to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud. Milton Friedman’s major arguments: 1. A corporation is an artificial person and therefore cannot be socially responsible. The goal of the corporation is to maximize profits and returns as rewards to its shareholders for their risk taking while conforming to the basic rules of the society, such as law and ethical customer, except those organizations established for eleemosynary purpose. 2. Managers (or Corporate Executives) are the agents of the owners of business. Their primary responsibilities were to the owners. Spending corporation’s money for a general social interest is not acting in owners’ best interests (conflict of interests between owners and the beneficiaries for the social interests). Managers who spend corporation’s money on social responsibilityShow MoreRelatedMilton Friedman s The Social Responsibility Of Business2315 Words   |  10 PagesPrior to this class, I would’ve viewed the purpose of a business to be exactly as Milton Friedman describes in his article â€Å"The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits.† In this article, he claims that corporate executives have responsibility to their employers, those employers being shareholders whose monetary contribution gives them capital to work with so they can expand the business, and the only way they will fulfill that duty is to make them as muc h money as possible. BusinessesRead MoreMilton Friedman, â€Å"the Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Profits†1202 Words   |  5 PagesMilton Friedman, â€Å"The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits† In the article, â€Å"The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Profits,† Friedman states that â€Å"businessmen believe that they are defending free enterprise when they proclaim that business is not concerned merely with profit but also with promoting desirable social ends.† This social responsibility is defined as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which is the belief that â€Å"corporations owe a greater dutyRead MoreSocial Responsibility Of Business : Milton Friedman, The Famous Nobel Prize Winning Economist805 Words   |  4 PagesIt was Milton Friedman, the famous nobel prize winning economist, who once said there is 0:12 one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage 0:18 in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the 0:23 game. Friedman s comments characterize one of two perspectives related to business social 0:28 responsibility. On one hand we know that the primary objective of a business is the attainment 0:34 of profits. But does that meanRead MoreArgument For Promotion Of Core Csr1635 Words   |  7 Pagesargue my middle must against my opponent (Milton Friedman’s) â€Å"must not† argument for promotion of core CSR. WE MUST PROMOTE CORE CSR vs WE MUST NOT PROMOTE CORE CSR Milton Friedman, in his work titled, â€Å" The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits†, emphasizes the role of business in society is to maximize shareholder wealth, and likens any activity misaligned with regard to that mission as â€Å"stealing†. In my argument against Milton Friedman’s â€Å"must-not† engage in core CSRRead MoreMilton Friedman1624 Words   |  7 PagesIn this essay I evaluate Milton Friedman’s essay: â€Å"The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits† in 1970, on the Social Responsibility of a business and his theory, which is called the â€Å"Efficiency Perspective†. In every article and book that I have read about social responsibility, Friedman’s â€Å"Efficiency Perspective is placed centrally. During my research I found that Friedman is often criticized for being too classical. Friedman believes that manager’s foremost objective or evenRead MoreMarx Vi ew on Capitalism1635 Words   |  7 Pagesis a social inquirer, he sees a lot and he chooses accordingly, what was it about his character Joe Keller that makes All My Sons, written in 1947, so important to us that we are reading it in University in 2009? 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It seems that the whole point of his essay revolves around one basic statement which clearly says that the only social responsibility of business is to use its resources andRead MoreWal-Mart Case Study on Csr1616 Words   |  7 PagesCCGL 9018 Final Essay Name: CHAN YIK UID 3035036503 Case study of Wal-Mart Introduction In this essay, the case of Wal-Mart will be discussed by applying the Milton Friedman’s argument on CSR and utilitarianism. Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world, however, it is also known for ruthless exploitation of employee, squeezing suppliers, and crushing communities. It has been the Public Enemy No. 1 for a generation of activists and reformers. To cope with these oppositions, Wal-MartRead MoreMilton Friedman: The Goal of the Firm744 Words   |  3 PagesMilton Friedman the Goal of the Firm The three goals of the firm are to maximum market value, maximum share price, and maximum value of owner equity. Milton Friedman asserts the only responsibility of a business is to increase its profits. Friedman reasons that corporate executives are employees of the owners of the business, or the stockholders, and as such have a fiduciary duty as agents to principals. The concept of social responsibility implies something other than to increase profits and ifRead MoreThe Social Responsibility Of Business1042 Words   |  5 PagesCorporate Social Responsibility is defined as a business preparation that involves participating in creativities that help society. Friedman: The Social Responsibility of Business is to increase its profits. Milton Friedman argues that the only social responsibility a business has is to itself – mainly to its profits, and therefore, its stakeholders. The business management in charge of a company works for the organization and eventually for the stak eholders. This person is responsible for carrying