The barbarians arc at the hand-hewn, responsibly sourced gates

摘要

here is one and only one social responsibility of business," the econo-mist Milton Friedman famously wrote in 1962. And that is "to use its resources and engage in activ-ities designed to increase its profits." Those words helped establish the now pervasive idea that companies are exclusively responsible, within the limits of the law, to the people who own them. Even the most soft-hearted public-company chief executive treats the idea with a measure of respect. In March, at his final annual meeting, Starbucks Corp. CEO Howard Schultz declared that, notwithstanding his plans to hire refugees and open stores in poor neighborhoods, the company's commitment to shareholder value remained "absolute."