This module explores different models of CSR (corporate social responsibility) including a shareholder model (based on the arguments of Milton Friedman), the stakeholder model (based on the work of Evan and Freeman), and an alliance model advocated by Patricia Werhane. Students will develop a framework based on an exercise to determine a social contract between society and business. They will use this social contract to assess each CSR approaches. Then they will develop a CSR program for the hypothetical corporation, Burger Man. (Based on an exercise developed by Paul Thompson.) This module is being developed as a part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation, "Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices," NSF-SES-0551779. It is currently being used in the courses "Business, Society and Government" and "Corporate Leadership and Social Responsibility" being taught at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez
Word version of this template
This is an example of an embedded link. (Go to "Files" tab to delete this file and replace it with your own files.)- The first two links to this module are to sample corporate social
responsibility statements put out by McDonalds and Starbucks. Thesewill help you to benchmark your own efforts both in the fictional
Burger Man case and in your efforts to develop CSR reports for realcompanies.
- The other link is a story from reporter, Paul Solomon, that reports onthe annual Business for Social Responsibility conference. This story,
first broadcast on December 23, 2004 reports on outstanding and suc-cessful efforts on CSR. Its title is "Good Business Deeds" and it was
accessed for this module on August 17, 2008 at the following URL:http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec04/corporate_12-23.html
Introduction
This module will introduce you to the theme of corporate social responsibility. Three representative cases will help to pose the central problems and basic issues of CSR. Then you will work on developing a social contract between the business corporation and society to articulate the interests, goods, and rights at stake in CSR. Three different approaches dominate this field: the shareholder approach set forth by Milton Friedman, the stakeholder approach articulated by Evan and Freeman, and Patricia Werhane's alliance model. Finally, you will work on developing a CSR program for the hypothetical corporation, Burger Man. This will be based on a shareholder meeting that consists of six or seven stakeholder presentations. (You will play the role of one of the stakeholders.) Your CSR program will address and integrate the needs and interests of the Burger Man stakeholders.
Three csr challenges
Patricia Werhane discusses how six corporate organizations deal with three CSR challenges: (1) carrying out oil drilling in a corrupt political environment, (2) working with suppliers who impose sweatshop conditions on employees, and (3) addressing the HIV/AIDS challenge in Africa. Each challenge elicits two corporate responses, one from a shareholder or stakeholder perspective, the other from an alliance perspective. Shell Oil's response to political corruption in Nigeria will be compared with Exxon/Mobile's response in Chad and Cameroon. Nike's answer to public criticism of the employment practices of its third world suppliers will be compared to Wal Mart's reputedly heavy-handed treatment of its employees and suppliers. Finally, while the pharmaceutical industry has developed an expensive drug cocktail to treat HIV/AIDS in patients in developed nations, the NGO (Non Government Organization), the Female Health Company, has designed a program to distribute of condoms to prevent infection in the first place. These paired corporate responses to CSR challenges are not provided in support of the position that the superiority of the alliance approach is a "no-brainer." Instead, they provide you with a menu of CSR strategies that you will evaluate using the CSR framework you will develop out of the social contract that between business and society. These three CSR challenges come from Werhane (2007)
