Reflection 1

    In Annotation 1 and 2, I mentioned the two parts of the corporate social responsibilities: economic and ethical responsibilities. In Annotation 3, I will focus on the highest level: philanthropic responsibilities. I keep using Carroll and Buchholtz’s book, Business & Society, as one of the sources. Besides, I will cite the contents of Corporate Social Responsibility, which is edited by Andrew Crane, Dirk Matten and Laura J. Spence, to support the ideas about philanthropic responsibilities.

    Carroll’s definition of philanthropic responsibilities is “being a good corporate citizen, who contributes resources to the community and improves quality of life.” When the companies keep progressing, entrepreneurs should pursue the next stage instead of satisfying the present status. Helping others is what they can do to make themselves grow, and is also an idea about “community involvement.” Entrepreneurs exist in a community, which should be a healthy one. Therefore, they can improve the society by having the philanthropic responsibilities.

Suggestions for the groups:

1.    Tony & Alison: I think that your discussions about the issue are only limited in the areas of political affairs and justice, but reasons for human flesh search have many aspects. Whether this way is justice or not is not clear and easy to explain because it doesn’t have the absolute definition in everyone’s mind. Some people may think that they enforce justice on behalf of Heaven, but in fact, they put others’ lives on risk. Sometimes, this kind of massive human activities would cover the truth instead.

2.    Phoebe & Niki: Showgirl is a job in front of the flash lamp. The destination of showgirls is showing the goods, but they are also considered as the goods in the exhibition. That is, they are materialized. However, there are more and more younger girls following others’ steps to do this job. They want to get attention and become famous with their appearance. From the economic aspect, the society may lose many talented people who can create more profits with their abilities than the appearance.

3.    Knot & Robert: Nowadays, it is important to develop domestic economy because the present world is globalized. If we do not open our market and have partnership with other countries, we would lose the competitiveness. However, it has the risk to a certain degree. I think that the traditional industries need challenges to break out of the antiquated type. The government’s mission is making everyone get substantial fairness or benefit.

4.   Tim & Tim: The relationship between individuals and the society is complicated. There are many rules restricted to individuals for public’s benefits. Mostly, the society is prior to individuals. For public facilities and economic profits, the government would choose to sacrifice the minority. Generally speaking, we should pursue the better life. However, human’s affection is the variation we cannot control. Although we cannot let individuals’ will destroy the order of the society, we should think about “individuals’ will” this element when making a decision. No matter what the purposes are, we cannot ignore the disadvantaged minority.

Ethical Responsibilities of CSR (Revised Annotation 2)

Carroll (2006) defined that the ethical responsibilities are “to do what is right, just, and fair, and avoid harm.” Although the business ethics do not have precise regulations, they are considered as the stricter standard than the laws. Whether actions and practices of business correspond with ethics or not is judged by the public. One of the important foundations for companies is the reputation, which is associated with the business ethics. A successful company is widespread with a better public reputation. Entrepreneurs can enhance reputation for their companies by having ethical responsibilities.

        In 2010, Josephson’s study of ethical principles showed that the business executive success is related to these 12 principles: “honesty, integrity, promise-keeping, loyalty, fairness, concern for others, respect for others, law abiding, commitment to excellence, leadership, reputation and morale, and accountability.” However, in recent years, the businessmen have gradually lost the fairness and honesty. According to the recent news, there are many tainted foods reported on TV, which makes the general public nervous and scared. For instance, the products are marked natural chlorophyll, but in fact, they involve copper chlorophyllin extract.

I believe that everyone’s ultimate destination is having a better life. The entrepreneurs’ ethical responsibilities are having good intentions of business instead of lies. Besides, entrepreneurs cannot use the power to exploit employees or workers, which causes the inappropriate existence of “sweatshop.” Instead, they need to give employees or workers a good place to work and adequate salaries. Furthermore, the behavior or decisions entrepreneurs do can be openly examined by the public. In 2006, Carroll’s arguments of supporting CSR claimed that “because business has a reservoir of management talent, functional expertise, and capital, and because so many others have tried and failed to solve general social problems, business should be given a chance. These arguments have some merit, because there are some social problems that can be handled, in the final analysis, only by business.” The key point lies in whether entrepreneurs want to do, such as the problems of pollution.

According to the Global Human Development Report 2006, which was proclaimed by United Nations Development Programme, there are over one billion people in the world having no clean water, and 1.8 million children die of diarrhea every year. Because of the water pollution, Belu Water, which is a company selling bottled mineral water, was founded. They use recycled materials and are carbon neutral, which conforms to the environment-friendly conception. Belu Water is also devoted to the plan about improvement of water resources.

        Having ethical responsibilities has been considered as an important and meaningful issue by more and more people in the recent years. Although the businessmen would face the ethical dilemma, they should try to overcome it. The sustainable management of business includes “greater customer loyalty” and “a more satisfied and productive workforce.” What you gain is from what you are devoted. If you want to have strong viability in the marketplace, you must have ethical responsibilities.

Figure 1: The business case for CSR

Figure 2: Top 20 activities/ characteristics of socially 

responsible companies

Sources of citation:     

                                                                                         

1.   Archie B. Carroll & Ann K. Buchholtz (2006). Business, society, and stakeholders: Corporate citizenship: social responsibility, responsiveness, and performance. In Dave Shaut (Ed.), Business & Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management, 6th edition (pp. 29-60). Mason, Ohio: South-Western.

2.   Josephson, M. (2010). Business ethics & leadership: 12 ethical principles for business executives. Retrieved October 30, 2013, from Free Management Library Web site: http://josephsoninstitute.org/business/blog/2010/12/12-ethical-principles-for-business-executives/

3.     Drupal & NETivism (n.d.). Belu Water. Retrieved November 13, 2013, from Social Enterprise Insights Web site: http://www.seinsights.asia/info/8/1444

Source of figure 1 and 2:

       Archie B. Carroll & Ann K. Buchholtz (2006). Business, society, and stakeholders: Corporate citizenship: social responsibility, responsiveness, and performance. In Dave Shaut (Ed.), Business & Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management, 6th edition (pp. 29-60). Mason, Ohio: South-Western.

Economic Responsibilities of CSR (Revised Annotation 1)

Carroll and Buchholtz (2006) categorized corporate social responsibility (CSR) into economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities (see Figure 1). Carroll and Buchholtz’s study of business and society showed that business should be “an economic institution whose orientation is to produce goods and services that society wants and to sell them at fair prices (P.35).” People in the society can be divided into three kinds: investors, employees, and the general public, who are playing the important roles to the economic responsibilities of CSR.

The economic responsibilities in Carroll’s definition are “being profitable.” First, it is about investors, whom I originally do not think of before reading the book, Business &Society. They are closely related to the business, and their major purpose is to gain profit from the successful companies. Therefore, the entrepreneurs’ responsibility to investors is maintaining the regular function of the companies, and making them keep getting the adequate returns on their investments. When investors are not benefited from the business, which they invested heavily in, financial problems will gradually appear in the society. The effect of economy is like dominoes, which associate one with others. That is, if the failure of business causes the collapse of economy, this condition would make the public afraid.

Second, employees are also the important group in the business, who need entrepreneurs’ concern. The company is like a machine, and the employees are like screws, which are requisite in the operation of the machine. The entrepreneurs need employees to work for them, and employees’ living expenses depend on works. When employees are paid good salary, their happiness and satisfaction of life are increased. Furthermore, they would like to devote themselves to works with heart. The entrepreneurs’ responsibility to employees is giving the steady salary which corresponds with their works. If the employees’ lives are stable, they could pursue not only the material comfort but also the spiritual growth, which can make the business and society progress.

Final part is essential population of the society: the general public, who influences business activities a lot. The entrepreneurs’ responsibility to the general public is making the products safe and selling them at the fair prices. According to the recent news, there are some vicious businessmen selling counterfeits. For instance, the products are marked “Made in Taiwan,” but they are actually from China. The prices of goods should be equal to quality. Although the entrepreneurs want to make a profit, they cannot deceive the general public and even sacrifice the people’s health and lives.

In conclusion, the business operation and the society interact with each other. The healthy environment of the society is a decisive element of economic development. Therefore, the entrepreneurs have the responsibility to maintain and protect the resource, which is from the society.

Figure 1: The pyramid of corporate social responsibility

Reference of citation and figure 1:

Buchholtz, A. K. & Carroll, A. B. (2006). Business, society, and stakeholders: Corporate citizenship: social responsibility, responsiveness, and performance. In D. Shaut (Ed.), Business & Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management, 6th edition (pp. 29-60). Mason, Ohio: South-Western.