In search of the good company

摘要

If you believe what they say about themselves, big companies have never been better citizens. In the past decade, "corporate social responsibility" (csr) has become the norm in the boardrooms of companies in rich countries, and increasingly in developing economies too. Most big firms now pledge to follow policies that define best practice in everything from the diversity of their workforces to human rights and the environment. Criticism of csr has come mostly from those on the free-market right, who intone Milton Friedman's argument that the only "social responsibility of business is to increase its profits" and fret that business leaders have capitulated to political correctness. But in a new twist to the debate, a powerful critique of csr has just been published by a leading left-wing thinker.