‘If a Business Wants to Maximise Profit, It Cannot Be Concerned with Corporate Social Responsibility’. Critically Discuss This Statement.

‘If a business wants to maximise profit, it cannot be concerned with corporate

social responsibility’. Critically discuss this statement.

This paper addresses the issue, if a business is to maximise profit, should it be concerned with corporate social responsibility. This is defined as the organisation’s duty to act ethically through the perspective of society and stakeholders and also known as CSR. Although it is a factor that should be taken into consideration if a business is to maximise profit, both positive and negative arguments should be contemplated. There is a range of arguments in terms of for and against with whether businesses should be concerned with corporate social responsibility and this includes different perspectives. This includes the Neoliberal and Neo-Keynesian view, as well the classical and socio-economic view of corporate social responsibility. Social obligation and responsiveness should also be examined to obtain a better understanding of corporate social responsibility.

Firstly, by examining social obligation and social responsiveness, a more efficient understanding of corporate social responsibility can be obtained. Social obligation is defined to be the organisation fulfilling its responsibility in meeting their economic and legal duties and nothing else. Unlike social responsiveness, the organisation acts responsively of popular social needs. This can be interpreted as “the pressure the society put on business” (Irina Iamandi 2007, p10). Through these two concepts, social responsiveness can be acknowledged that society can affect the organisation’s action with ease. An example would be an organisation complying its pollution standards due to the law. However, if the firm is to recycle its garbage due to society insisting its beneficial to the environment, then it would be social responsive. Hence, if the organisation was to be social responsive, they would be perceived as socially responsible and potentially entice consumers....