issue task essay....corporations and social responsibility

[dicapino]

Some people believe that corporations have a responsibility to promote the well-being of the societies and environments in which they operate. Others believe that the only responsibility of corporations, provided they operate within the law, is to make as much money as possible.

Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented.

 

Corporation are established to carry out business that would create profit. But these activities are accomplished within a society, and thus may affect communities and individuals either positively or negatively. It behooves a corporation to see to the social wellbeing of the society in which it makes profit, but not to the extent that it runs at a loss.

Businesses are funded by investors and shareholders and these individuals expect to get profit dividends from their investment. The paramount function of an establishment is to provide adequate services and gain revenue, when it fails to do this it runs at a loss. Therefore, corporations should not be tagged as amoral when they seem to be profit oriented.

On the other hand, corporations are obliged to see to the well being of communites in which they operate because their acclaimed profits are made from rawmaterials, both human and natural, endemic in these regions. Business leaders are behooved to see that the constituents of such communities are provided with schools, clean water and good roads, since these places are at times rustic. Such actions would be a right step of such monolithic companies showing empathy to the indigenous people. For instance, oil giants like TOTAL and Mobil, help provide basic ammenities in various Nigerian Communities where carry out their operations.

Furthermore, these social responsbility, if judiciously carried out, could be auspicious to the organisation. Showing largess to society, in the long run, can improve their stocks and buoy more people to buy shares which could improve business. When corporations are parsimonious to the society that patronises them, they create a poor public image that even high profits cannot efface, leading to animosity between corporations and the society in which they operate; such situations are not propitious for organisations that are interested in earning profits.

In summary, corporations should create a balance between making large profits and showing magnanimity to the society. Being insouciance to the needs of these communities may be insidious to their profit making machine.