First I tried to figure out what business ethic means. According to Wiki, “business ethics” is a philosophy of business, one of whose aims is to determine the fundamental purposes of a company. After finishing the preparation for Class 3, I also reconciled Friedman’s and Freeman’s opinions: the purposes of a company should be maximizing profits for all the shareholders while taking certain social responsibilities.
However, what I disagree with Friedman is that social responsibilities should not only be taken by individuals, ironically, companies should take the most because I believe the existence of CSR(corporate social responsibility).
Take an example of Microsoft and Bill Gates: according to Microsoft website, the company runs 50000+ nonprofit programs globally per year and Bill Gates himself has also donated $28million+ to charity and funds. As one of the biggest enterprises of the world creating $25million+ per quarter, Microsoft set a positive example of corporate social responsibility. The reason I think companies should shoulder more social responsibilities it that businesses always have a stronger and faster impact on influencing people’s lives by producing goods and services, creating job offers, paying taxes, etc. Also, stakeholders of the company have the right to expect a business to be ethical.