Andreas Hillas
Aaron Bartolome
Ethics
11/20/17
What Should a Business do?
The debate on what a business should do is ever changing. An ethical dilemma for many companies and business alike; but, what is the moral duty of a company? Is it to maximize profits, benefit the consumer, or create a happy community? Someone like Milton Friedman would say that a business does not have a moral obligation to the community, but does have an obligation to maximize profits for shareholders. Some people would disagree with that and say that a business has a shared responsibility to shareholders and the community and that is what we will see argued today.
(First to Debate)
Milton Friedman: CSR is something known as Corporate Social Responsibility, something …show more content…
I believe that the Stakeholder Theory is better than your corporate model, and that by improving the benefits for all of those involved you will create a better community but also a better business model. One example of stakeholder theory is Abercrombie & Fitch. In 2013 Abercrombie had been complained about by a customer who had said that the clothes they produce run small in size and their sizes are not true to the normal sizes of other brands nor do they carry clothe sizes for larger persons. The company then proceeded to respond that they “do not want overweight women to wear their clothes”. This response sparked an outrage in the community and caused many people to boycott Abercrombie for years. The bad publicity for the company not only lead to a downfall in profits, but a bad reputation for the company and its product. In my experience as a consumer, I associate a product with it’s company’s reputation. The company had clearly a poor response to a singular customer, and lost thousands of other customers for it. Not only did several stores close, but they lost tons of revenue. If a company is viewed as morally incorrect, corrupt, or just in general has a bad reputation, customers will not want to purchase nor endorse their products. This leads us to a slippery slope argument that can be made saying; with lesser customers, you’d need to increase price, but this would lead to a loss of even more customers due to affordability. If you lose those customers only a few would remain meaning that profits would reach an all time low not only reducing the shares your shareholders would take home, but also reducing the amount of jobs created, company revenue, willingness of investors, and overall happiness within the
Aaron Bartolome
Ethics
11/20/17
What Should a Business do?
The debate on what a business should do is ever changing. An ethical dilemma for many companies and business alike; but, what is the moral duty of a company? Is it to maximize profits, benefit the consumer, or create a happy community? Someone like Milton Friedman would say that a business does not have a moral obligation to the community, but does have an obligation to maximize profits for shareholders. Some people would disagree with that and say that a business has a shared responsibility to shareholders and the community and that is what we will see argued today.
(First to Debate)
Milton Friedman: CSR is something known as Corporate Social Responsibility, something …show more content…
I believe that the Stakeholder Theory is better than your corporate model, and that by improving the benefits for all of those involved you will create a better community but also a better business model. One example of stakeholder theory is Abercrombie & Fitch. In 2013 Abercrombie had been complained about by a customer who had said that the clothes they produce run small in size and their sizes are not true to the normal sizes of other brands nor do they carry clothe sizes for larger persons. The company then proceeded to respond that they “do not want overweight women to wear their clothes”. This response sparked an outrage in the community and caused many people to boycott Abercrombie for years. The bad publicity for the company not only lead to a downfall in profits, but a bad reputation for the company and its product. In my experience as a consumer, I associate a product with it’s company’s reputation. The company had clearly a poor response to a singular customer, and lost thousands of other customers for it. Not only did several stores close, but they lost tons of revenue. If a company is viewed as morally incorrect, corrupt, or just in general has a bad reputation, customers will not want to purchase nor endorse their products. This leads us to a slippery slope argument that can be made saying; with lesser customers, you’d need to increase price, but this would lead to a loss of even more customers due to affordability. If you lose those customers only a few would remain meaning that profits would reach an all time low not only reducing the shares your shareholders would take home, but also reducing the amount of jobs created, company revenue, willingness of investors, and overall happiness within the