Growing up as a student in “Beautiful British Columbia”, the ever-growing issue of climate change and pollution lies at the top of my mind. In support of Milton Friedman’s definition of social responsibility, I strongly believe that every person, every company and every country has an ethical responsibility to protect the environment. What are ethics? Ethics are a set of rules based off of one’s morals. After experiencing a particularly dry summer, the scarcity of fresh water was illuminated and I believe that Nestlé Waters Canada is not satisfying its ethical responsibility to provide value to the community, nor is it following its social responsibility of protecting the environment.
Freshwater is a “precious natural resource”
Legally, Nestlé Waters Canada’s withdrawal of hundreds of millions of litres of water is not violating any rules and regulations; however, morally, is it ethical for Nestlé to be withdrawing a community’s precious natural resource at no cost to sell back for profit? As Friedman argues, the social responsibility of a company is to “increase profits”; therefore, Nestlé is fulfilling its ethical responsibility while not violating its business ethics; however, if Freeman’s Stakeholder Theory holds true, Nestlé is violating its social responsibility by not providing value to its customers (making profit off of something it received for free) or the community (withdrawing without compensation). The main question is: is Nestlé Waters Canada ethically responsible to pay for the natural resource it is withdrawing from the community?
Business ethics: increase profits while not violating any rules and regulations (Friedman)
Social responsibility (of a corporate executive): provide employment, eliminate discrimination and avoid pollution (Friedman)
Referred article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/water-is-a-precious-commodity-but-bc-is-just-giving-it-away/article25422194/
Further reading: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/wild-west-of-groundwater-billion-dollar-nestl%C3%A9-extracting-b-c-s-drinking-water-for-free-1.587568