Research

Misguided Virtue: False Notions of Corporate Social Responsibility.


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Economic Theory

The Reader's Digest Condensed Version

Education

A robust critique of the now fashionable idea of corporate social responsibility

https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/upldbook126pdf.pdf
The doctrine of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) now enjoys widespread support. Companies are enjoined not simply to seek profit but to demonstrate their ‘corporate citizenship’ by working with a range of stakeholders to further environmental and social as well as economic goals. Pressures for such behaviour have come from NGOs but have been taken up by academics, other commentators and multinational enterprises themselves.

David Henderson examines the CSR doctrine, subjecting it to fundamental ciriticisms. In this controversial text he argues that, far from being harmless, its adoption threatens prosperity in poor countries as well as rich. It is likely to reduce competition and economic freedom and to undermine the market economy.

2001, Hobart Papers 142, ISBN 978 0 255 36510 9, 171pp, PB

Further reading:

A Brief on Business Ethics by Tibor Machan.

The Role of Business in the Modern World by David Henderson.

Corporate Governance: Accountability in the Marketplace by Elaine Sternberg.

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