Unit 4: Counter argument to CSR.

At the moment we are researching the issues surrounding corporate social responsibility. You need to understand and be able to articulate the counter argument to CSR - namely that firms primary responsibility is to shareholders not to stakeholders or society at large. 

The most famous proponent of this “shareholder perspective” was Milton Friedman whose seminal work was published almost 40 years ago. In “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits”,

Friedman argued that business leaders “had no responsibilities other than to maximise profits for the shareholders”.  It will be interesting to see how many of you will refer to Friedman in the unit 4 paper.

The famous video clip where Friedman argues his case for the profit motive can be seen below…