Firms Need to Focus on Profits: CEOs Are Often Distracted by Corporate Social Responsibility and Other Forms of Social Activism

摘要

President Calvin Coolidge was famous for saying that the business of America is business. He might have added that the business of business is to pursue profits, for lately some corporate leaders and others seem to have lost sight of that basic precept. Instead, they have embraced corporate- social responsibility (GSR), the politically correct buzzword du jour of activists who seek to advance social goals that they have decided are virtuous and who covet the deep pockets of the world's capitalists. Daniel Vasella, the chairman and CEO of Novartis, the world's fifth largest pharmaceutical company, declared that multinational companies "have a duty to adhere to fundamental values and to support and promote them." If he was referring to the corporate values of honesty, innovation, voluntary transactions, and the wisdom of the marketplace, he'd be right. What he meant was "collaborating] constructively with the UN and civil society to define the best way to improve human rights."