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Social Responsibility "If we are not equal in temporal things, we cannot be equal in spiritual things. Men on whom God has bestowed financeering ability are the men that are wanted at this time. . . . Persons who have the ability are the ones who should step forward in things that would lead the Latter-day Saints to this union. It would be of more value to them than all the things of earth. The blessings of God upon them in time and eternity would well repay them to step forth and labor for the Zion of God. . . . What a lovely thing it would be if there was a Zion now, as in the days of Enoch! that there would be peace in our midst and no necessity for a man to contend and tread upon the toes of another to attain a better position, and advance himself ahead of his neighbor." --- President Lorenzo Snow Beyond the narrow scope of managerial ethics and/or the moral values of individual corporate leaders lies the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Its basic premise is that firms do not operate within a social vacuum. They take on identities and have impacts, for good or evil, on various stakeholders in society. Such entities may include employees, customers, local and national governments, the natural environment, suppliers of raw materials, the community, and so on. Stakeholders may be primary, such as investors. Or they may consist of relatively lesser or secondary groups such as a nearby school, or perhaps the press. Working Toward Zion. Salt Lake City, UT: Aspen Books (revised, updated, and reprinted) 1999, Book-484 pp. (with J. Lucas). "Economic Transformation in the New Millennium". Chapter in Maurine and Scott Proctor (eds.), Charting a New Millennium: The Latter-day Saints in the Coming Century. Salt Lake City, UT: Aspen Books, 1999, pp. 280-300. "Building a Business Beyond Accounting Ledgers and Elbow Grease". BYU Today. July 1990. "The Scandalous Pay of the Corporate Elite". Business and Society. Review, No. 61, Spring 1987, pp. 22-26. Reprinted in Society's Problems: Sources and Consequences by S. Eitzen (ed.), New Jersey: Allyn and Bacon, Inc. "The Free Market System: A Dialogue with Jim Kearl and Warner Woodworth". Century 2, Fall 1980, pp. 16-34. "Women Working". Exchange Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 2, Spring 1978, pp. 29-35. "Survival of the fittest" ought to be the basis for human morality. Advocating "Social Darwinism" or the "law of the jungle" in which the weak are killed off: "It seems hard that a labourer incapacitated by sickness from competing with his stronger fellows, should have to bear the resulting privations. It seems hard that widows and orphans should be left to struggle for life or death." However, "the whole of nature is to get rid of such, to clear the world of them, and make room for the better. . . . Such natural predatory instincts are necessary to" exterminate "[people who suffer just like] beasts of prey and herds of useless animals." --- Herbert Spencer, British philosopher and early sociologist Social Responsibility Links New Academy of Business Business for Social Responsibility Ethical Junction SRI World Group Caring Company Center for Action Research and Professional Practice Pact Ethical Corporations Business and Society Journal Business in the Community Good Corporation Envolve Partnerships for Sustainability The Natural Step Corporate Social Responsibility Europe Synergos Institute Center for Ethical Busines Cultures Triple Bottom Line Investing Accountability Social Investment Forum Clear Profit Ethics Resource Center Center for Corporate Citizenship Foundation Partnership on Corporate Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility Forum "The revolution is for organizations to become the place where our personal values and economics intersect. Reforming our organizations so that our spirit is answered, and our ability to serve customers in the broadest sense is guaranteed." --- Peter Block, Stewardship |