Businesses have the responsibility to “make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society” according to Friedman’s article on The Social Responsibility of Business. CVS has chosen to take their business plan another way. As difficult as it may be to see profits dip, they have chosen to eliminate cigarettes from all their stores across the U.S. This decision is “making it harder for people to get access to these harmful products” and allowing CVS to operate ethically in its practice. For a company that plans on expanding its “Minute Clinics” to almost double the amount by 2017, the decision to stop selling cigarettes really is “position[ing] the company for future growth”.

This decision demonstrates CVS’s ability to look past solely the profits and filling the pockets of stockholders and focus on benefiting the community and the other groups part of the Stakeholder theory. They recognize the growing amount of deaths related to smoking and are ready to make a change for the better and improve the society around them. All of this allows them to practice as an ethical business that no longer contradicts itself from the inside-out.

Reference:

Storm,Stephanie. “CVS Vows to Stop Selling Tobacco Products.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Feb. 2014. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.

“Anti-Smoking Campaigns and Tobacco Bans – Goldsboro Daily News – Goldsboro News, NC.” Goldsboro Daily News Goldsboro News NC RSS. N.p., 11 Sept. 2014. Web. 11 Sept. 2014.