Business Ethics and Corporate Governance, Second Edition

WHAT ARE CORPORATIONS EXPECTED TO DO?

In support of the view that corporations have a moral and social obligation towards society, some economists argue that corporations depend on society for a number of facilities they enjoy such as developed infrastructure, peace and tranquillity in the work place and a trained workforce. They also depend on society for the maintenance of law and order, without which they cannot carry on their productive or distributive activities, and also for reaching to their customers through mass media. Consumers of products, without whom they have no raison d’être, are all drawn from society. If a business body draws so much from society, it has to make its own contribution to the welfare of the latter. It has a debt ...