THE SOCIAL ROLE OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISE IN BRITAIN: AN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE. PART II

Edwin M. Epstein

Journal of Management Studies, 1977, vol. 14, issue 3, 281-316

Abstract: In Part I of this paper,2it was suggested that a concern for the social responsibilities of large business enterprises had received far less explicit attention in Britain than it has in the United States. In the latter it has preoccupied corporate managers, business critics, scholars, trade unionists and the general public for more than a generation. My analysis of the reasons for the comparatively lower degree of British concern with the social role of business enterprise stressed the importance of the following seven factors: 1 There exists in Britain (relative to the United States) greater reliance on publicly owned enterprises about which the public policy debate concerning the social role of business institutions has been focused. 2 British acceptance of corporate size and market dominance is greater than in the United States. 3 A long‐standing governmental involvement in economy and society has characterized Britain's political economy. 4 A pre‐emption of societal leadership functions by non‐business élites has occurred in Britain. 5 The impact of Britain's social structure has produced an informal Clite consensus regarding a limited social role for business. 6 There is a British tradition of according privacy to business and other social institutions. 7 There is a lesser degree of‘professionalism’ in management practice–both in terms of substance and style–in Britain when compared with the United States.

Date: 1977
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