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COMPANY Q: A DISCUSSION ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 1

COMPANY Q: A DISCUSSION ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Objective 310.2.1-05

COMPANY Q: A DISCUSSION ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 2 Overview of Business Ethics When considering a company’s responsibilities, it is easy to define responsibilities to owners, shareholders, and investors. Most businesses start up in order to make money. Being profitable is one of the fundamental responsibilities of a business. According to Dr. Milton Friedman (1970), profitability is a business’ first ethical responsibility. Customers, too, are an obvious area of responsibility of a business. Without customers, there is no income, and therefore no profit. So, it is also a responsibility of business to serve its customers, by providing them products or services of value. There are, however, other people also served by business whose interests are not so straightforward, others who have a stake in the success or failure of the business. These include employees, suppliers, and the community in which the business operates. For all of these stakeholders, the business has responsibilities beyond profit, including transparency, non-discrimination, and sustainability. Customers should be able to expect not only a valuable product or service, but also a safe and reliable one. They should also expect that the service rendered is non-discriminational, i.e. priced and provided to all potential customers on an even playing field regardless of race, religion, color, age, or any other factor other than ability to pay. Shareholders and investors have a right to honest and accurate financial reporting. Employees have the right to be treated fairly and non-discriminatorily, and to be provided a workplace that is not hostile. Suppliers make up a large line of economic dominoes, whose own success or failure can depend not only on the distributor’s honesty and

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