 Why Do Corporations Decide to Do Good?Journal of Economics, Management and Religion (JEMAR), 2020, vol. 01, issue 01, 1-19 Abstract: In his highly influential essay, Milton Friedman argued that companies should never engage in “social responsibility,” defined as going beyond regulatory compliance and normal business practices to advance a “social” goal. In contrast, I argue for a more nuanced approach when considering in engaging in these activities. Specifically, I assert that companies should not engage in such activities for “moral” or “ethical” reasons or in response to societal pressure alone, but rather in response to a legitimate demand for ‘social’ practices from groups (e.g. consumers) that can directly benefit the firm. This profit-maximizing approach to ‘social responsibility’ still allows for considerable scope in formulating and implementing strategic initiatives that simultaneously advance corporate and societal goals. Under certain conditions, managers can maximize profit, while also adopting practices that are perceived to be socially responsible. Keywords: Corporate social responsbility (CSR); strategic CSR; profit maximization; information asymmetry (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:jemarx:v:01:y:2020:i:01:n:s2737436x2050003x Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1142/S2737436X2050003X Access Statistics for this article Journal of Economics, Management and Religion (JEMAR) is currently edited by Robert M. Sauer More articles in Journal of Economics, Management and Religion (JEMAR) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. |
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