Business, Innovation and Responsibility

Conclusion

This investigation of the essential determinants of responsibility has raised a number of important points.

Firstly, there are multiple perspectives on responsibility: legal responsibilities form the framework for a first set of actions and decisions, structured around limitations and rationally integrated by companies. In this area, a range of developments are both possible and desirable in order to foster positive practices. This is illustrated by the creation and success of Benefit Corporations in both Europe and the US, structures which give weight to the ethical engagements of a company in relation to economic constraints. Other legal developments may be envisaged, notably to generalize stakeholder inclusion in the case of debated and complex innovations. A number of changes in international law are to be hoped for, with the aim of harmonizing business practices across widely varying territories.

However, responsibility is not simply a legal issue, and law alone cannot cover the whole field of responsibility. Literature on CSR adds several other dimensions to this first aspect: the economic responsibility of companies to ensure their survival in a competitive environment, governed by the obligation of profit; social responsibilities, which stem from the relations between a company and its stakeholders; and political responsibilities, which have their origins in the power and influence of a company over its environment. These different and interconnected levels ...