Summary William Sin BEJ 20 July 16

Milton Friedman: Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profit

Being legal and being moral

Milton (Friedman) vs. Edward (Freeman) The only group that has a moral claim on the corporation is the people who own shares of the stock (that is, the shareholders). Edward (Freeman) Many groups have a moral claim on the corporation because the corporation has the potential to harm or benefit them (call these groups stakeholders).

Who are these stakeholders?

Morality and Reasons

Kant on Ends-in-themselves Kant’s Categorical Imperative “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means to an end.” Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, 4:428

Rawls on Justice Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is to systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed if they are unjust. John Rawls

Mill on Justice Justice remains the appropriate name for certain social utilities which are vastly more important, and therefore more absolute and imperative, than any others are as a class … ; and which, therefore, ought to be, as well as naturally are, guarded by a sentiment not only different in degree, but also in kind; distinguished from the milder feeling which attaches to the mere idea of promoting human pleasure or convenience, at once by the more definite nature of its commands, and by the sterner character of its sanctions.

The market logic individuals are motivated by self-interest; the harder you work, the greater the rewards you will get; the freer the people are, the more rational they will be; market as the measure of truth; private enterprise as a model for the state as well as for individuals.

Integrations “Globalization is the inexorable integration of markets, transportation systems, and communication systems to a degree never witnessed before -- in a way that is enabling corporations, countries, and individuals to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before...” Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat (2005)

What is an MNC A Multinational Corporation (MNC) is any business that owns and controls production or service facilities in two or more countries. Examples include Starbuck, Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Nike, etc. © He et al.

Sweatshops Definition: A shop employing workers at low wages, for long hours, and under poor conditions. Factory where workers do piecework for poor pay and are prevented from forming unions; common in the clothing industry