September 13th marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of Milton Friedman’s famous New York Time Magazine essay entitled “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits”. This has occasioned a slew of testimonials and opinion pieces on Friedman’s legacy in general and the legacy of this free market manifesto in particular.
CSR
Making the case for and against and beyond Friedman in 2020: On the anniversary of Friedman’s “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits”
September 13th marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of Milton Friedman’s famous New York Time Magazine essay entitled “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits”. This has occasioned a slew of testimonials and opinion pieces on Friedman’s legacy in general and the legacy of this free market manifesto in particular. Not surprisingly, […]
The problem with CSR: Why companies need to listen to their activist employees
The current pandemic has exposed blatant social injustices and inequalities around the world, prompting businesses to face their societal impact. Before the crisis, however, a rising wave of employee activism had already started to call into question the extent to which companies had managed to meet their moral obligations. Employees at Wayfair, Microsoft, Google, Twitter […]
Fake news and what it means for discussions about CSR-related issues
There is a saying on online forums that “about 78% of all statistics shared online are made up to prove a point – including this one.” This has become particularly relevant lately, where we have seen many discussions about fake news. And while it is often discussed in relation to politics, in particular during political […]
Big fuss about a big policy plan – and why this matters for corporate social responsibility: the Chinese social credit system
Few statist policy blueprints on matters pretty technical have captured our collective imagination as has the Chinese Social Credit System (SCS). Announced by China’s State Council on June 14, 2014, and building on experimentation with related mechanisms since the early 2000s, it sets out a hugely ambitious effort, officially described to instil societal trust, integrity and cohesion in a highly complex society.
Is CSR effectively altruistic?
CSR is the part of a company that focusses on doing good. Interestingly enough, business is all about impact and effectiveness when it comes to the core of the business, but when strategies of doing good are developed and implemented there is often more concern for what sounds good than for the effectiveness and impact […]
Corporate Criminal Liability in Germany – An Idea Whose Time Has Come
Siemens, Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank … and now Airbus. What is wrong with German companies? It seems that German firms are disproportionally exposed to corporate irresponsibility. Of course, this is more of a subjective assessment than a statistical fact, and to be fair Airbus SE is a European company. Corporate irresponsibility appears in all jurisdictions, for all […]
When Good CSR Intentions With Communities Go Bad
In this post I reflect on the past ten years of working as a practitioner and researcher on the issue of CSR, company – community relations and conflicts. Overall, it is striking to see the gap between the optimism held by practitioners and the pessimism of those affected in communities when it comes to the […]
Enjoy the silence? CSR communication & the phenomenon of “Greenhushing”
Why do some companies don’t “talk their walk”?. Especially SMEs face cost barriers to CSR communication. Scandals or reputational crises taught companies to be very careful with their CSR communication. Yet, there are reasons why firms should engage in CSR communication nevertheless… All I ever wantedAll I ever neededIs here in my armsWords are very […]