Responsible Commerce

Review

The ‘responsible commerce’ concept is continuing to promote in today’s society. When most people think of responsible commerce, they are focusing on a business's effect on and relationship to stakeholders. To my mind, ‘responsible commerce’ refers to the corporation preventing and solving long term issues to maximize the benefits of the shareholders and stakeholders which compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards and international norms. As Milton Friedman argued that the only responsibility of business is to used its resources and engage in activities designed to maximize its profits. (p185) The corporation should always place the interest of the shareholders in the front, all the decisions made by the corporation should base on creating goodwill and positive impact for the shareholders. Responsibility to the financial interests of its owners is the basis and the most important responsibility of the corporation. Beside of increasing profit to the shareholders, the corporations have responsibilities to all the other members that may affect or affected by the decisions made by the corporation; that is, to all the shareholders which include the consumers, the employees, the suppliers and contractors the surrounding community and the society at large. (p193) As professor of business administration Keith Davis maintain that areas as minority employment and environmental pollution have great social and economic power in our society.(p193) Not like the profit which affect the short term issues of the company, the power of the society impact the company on the long term interests. So to ensure the sustainability of the company, it is important to take the responsibilities to all other parties of the public sphere that have stake in business.

Because of continual promotion of ‘responsible commerce’ concept, people already entered into a cognitive moral development stage that would screen the ethical problem and interpret it (Samli 2008, p112)....