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Milton Friedman

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Although I do agree with many points brought forward in Thomas Mulligan’s critique of Milton Friedman’s essay “The Social Responsibility Of Business Is to Increase Its Profits”, I still believe Friedman’s essay has a stronger overall argument. One of Mulligan’s main points in his critique of Friedman’s essay is the idea of the counter-paradigm in which “Lone Ranger” executives do not exist. Instead, “a business’ strategy is designed by many stakeholder groups, including executives and stockholders”, and in this way, the executive is no longer just working for the maximization of profits. Although it is easy to see how this counter-paradigm disproves part of Friedman’s argument, a key piece is still missing in addressing the “Lone Ranger”

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