PHL295H1 Final: Reading Summaries
Document Summary
The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits . Social responsibility usually means something other than responsibility to increase profits. If executives spend company funds to discharge social responsibilities, they are spending someone else"s money (owners", employees", or customers") without their authorization/consent: spending money in this way is wrong. Creates jobs for workers, new goods and services for customers, profits for shareholders, economic growth and taxes for society. Note: the idea is that self-interested pursuit of profits leads to the social good (adam smith"s invisible hand view of the. Morality comes about through the institution of business, not via attempts by managers to be ethically good members of market) society. For friedman, rules of the game/society involve obeying the law & ethical custom (no fraud or deception) Note: law and ethical custom needn"t be the same a. Many immoral practices are legal (deception) (and laws can be immoral) b.
