Social Responsibility of Business Essay Example

The main reason entrepreneurs start a business is to make money. While many encourage and engage in ethical and responsible actions, sometimes a more profitable outcome means cutting around the corner and participating in irresponsible behavior. Companies have a responsibility towards customers, employers, and investors, but as seen below, the lines blur when it comes to the rights of these three groups and making money.

Businesses have a responsibility to customers and their rights as consumers; one of their rights include the right to be heard. One contradiction between entrepreneurial interests and the responsibility towards customers arises with the issue of reviewing products. Companies encourage people to share their opinions about a product, or service, this is feedback, which is valuable to the company. However, if a consumer posts a negative review without forewarning the company, they may be sued. Businesses want people to review their product online, only if the review is positive.

Employees have the right to safe working environments, and while this may be true for large corporations within the United States, those same corporations move their manufacturing and labor outside the country. The reason is that having safe working conditions is expensive. A great example is Apple, who was called out a couple of years ago, for having unsafe working conditions in China. China, who has a different set of ethical standards, produced cheaper rates of labor, and if a company wants to save money, China and other countries with low labor cost are goldmines. U.S. companies have the façade of employee safety, but many of the corporations have branches outside the U.S. so that they pay less on safe working conditions, and labor costs.

Businesses have many responsibilities towards investors, one such as eliminating insider trading, which is trading stock with confidential information. Entrepreneurial interests conflict with this issue, as seen with Elon Musk and Tesla stock. Musk, to make a profit, participated in insider trading, which contradicts Tesla’s Supplier Code of Conduct, “we live by the principles of hard work, exceptional performance, integrity, and fairness.” Musk’s actions contradict Tesla’s image of a progressive and ethically sound company. Many companies face the issue of insider trading due to individual greed which clouds judgment. Money rules the world, and those who have lots of it are bound to a life of exceptions and privilege.