Social Responsibility of Business A Contrast of Entine and Jennings to Friedman and Freeman

In an attempted to assess corporate social responsibility the prescribed reading by Jennings discusses the contrasting views on the topic from Entine and Jennings to those of Fridman and Freeman.  Although these views vary so much at one could suggest that it is similar to comparing the idealistic to the realistic, both groups do share the similarity in suggesting that judging a corporations entire ethical prowess on social responsibility is not remotely close to an accurate representation.

Milton Friedman assumes the position that a business cannot hold social responsibilities; only individual people can hold responsibilities.  Friedman states “A corporation is an artificial person and in this sense may have artificial responsibilities, but “business” as a whole cannot be said to have responsibilities, even in this vague sense” (Jennings, 2012, p. 91).  Moving forward Friedman suggests that it is necessary to define what social responsibility of business means to the individuals within the business.  The individuals within a company that have responsibility are businessmen and women.  As a member of a corporation they are an employee of the business.  Their direct responsibilities are to fulfill the needs and goals of the business, not those of society.

The perspective of Freeman is similar to that of Friedman in the aspect that the social responsibility of business rests upon individuals, or in Freemans case the group of individuals supporting the company, stakeholders.  In an article by Steib, Addressing Freeman’s Stakeholder Theory, Steib defines the theory as a redistribution of benefits and important decision-making abilities to stakeholders.  Stakeholders are defined as “Groups who have a stake or claim in the firm” (Jennings, 2012, p. 96).  Stakeholders include suppliers, customers, employees, stockholders, and the local community. Freeman suggests that if these individuals have the decision making power of the company they will readily use the corporation to fulfill social responsibilities.

Entine and Jennings take a much different perspective on the social responsibility of business.   They suggest that company now recognize the public is choosing to support companies that are “environment friendly” and represent themselves in a socially ethical way.  “’Rain-forest Chic’ is a label coined in the popular business press for the increasingly popular corporate branding strategy of capitalizing on consumer use of environmental issues as a screen for buying decisions” (Jennings, 2012, p. 101). Entine and Jennings continue on to suggest, in a very realistic fashion, that no company or individual is perfectly ethical 100% of the time and state that looking beyond a constantly changing political world will help in determining the true soul of a company.

Jennings, M. M. (2012). Business Ethics: Case Studies and Selected Readings, Seventh Edition. South-Western Cengage Learning, Mason OH.

Stieb, J. (2009). Assessing Freeman’s Stakeholder Theory.  Journal Of Business Ethics, 87(3), 401-414. Doi:10.1007/s10551-0089928-4