Business and Professional Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business and Professional Ethics - Essay Example a company should be to maximise its profits and consequently return a part of these profits to the shareholder group as the reward and return for the risks that they have borne by investing their money in the company. Milton Friedman’s view advocates that the shareholders of a company can decide what social responsibilities they want to take part in. This report is prepared with the aim of evaluating the pros and cons of these arguments by referring to the theoretical works presented by different scholars and practitioners in this domain. The report is concluded by presenting a view as to whether the arguments presented by Friedman still hold ground in the current corporate world. The arguments proposed by Milton Friedman suggest that a company does not have to have any kind of social responsibility towards the community and society because the only concern of the company should be to increase its financial gains and returns for the shareholders who have invested in the company (Friedman, 1970). Nevertheless, as per the contemporary theories of business ethics and corporate social responsibility, focusing on giving back to the societies and communities in which the companies operate is a necessity for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. Also, the use of suitable corporate social responsibility initiatives is mandatory for ensuring that the company remains ethically, morally as well as socially compliant (Kerr, Janda and Pitts, 2009, pp. 22-25). As per the theory proposed by Friedman, the focus of the profit oriented businesses on adding value to the society may lead to totalitarianism which is a particular type of political system in which the  federal or state authorities have total control over the community and society and thus, seeks to control all the relevant aspects of both private and public lives whenever and wherever possible. But, it can be seen in the global corporate environment that totalitarianism as a political system does not prevail