Business ethics in a global environment - Dlog

Business ethics in a global
environment
Dr Ina Verstl
Brauwelt International
23 January 2012

What is the business of business?

“The social responsibility of business is
to increase its profits.”
Milton Friedman, New York Times Magazine, 1970

“The biggest contribution businesses
can make
is to run successful companies,
contributing to tax revenues
and investing in local economies.”
Graham Mackay, CEO SABMiller, March 2008

…“ turbo capitalism“ …
…“casino capitalism“…
…“culture of greed“…

Why CSR and not business ethics?
• Globalization…growth of business power and
influence
• Declining capacity of governments to address
social challenges
•Increase in independent sector/NGOs as
proxies for the public

What‘s new?
Changing social contract
between
private sector – public sector – civil society

20th century social contract

21st century social contract

Same content –different packaging
• 1960s: Business Ethics
• 1980s: Stakeholder approach ‐ corporate
social performance
•Late 1980s: ‘Thatcherism’, ‘Reagonomics’

Same content –different packaging
1990s: Corporate Citizenship
Corporate Social Responsibility
Social Responsibility
Sustainable Development
Sustainability
Global Citizenship
Triple Bottom Line

CSR … and why few businesses can
afford to ignore it
• Governments are taking an ever keener
interest through laws and regulations
• Companies have to protect their reputation
and the environment in which they do
business
• Investors are showing more interest
• Employees are demanding it

CSR ‐ too much of a good thing?

The “greening” of corporate
responsibility

Make money by doing good
•AB‐InBev wants to bring its water use down to
3.75 l/l by 2010
• Heineken wants to bring it down to 4.6 l/l by 2010
• SABMiller wants to bring it down to 3.5 l/l by 2015
• Carlsberg has not released any official targets
•Foster‘s is down to 3.3 l/l (2008) and wants to
reduce its water use by another 10 percent by
2011

… but avoid accusations of
greenwashing

The challenge
• No global standards that set definitive targets
• „voluntary“ is the operative term

CSR is spreading around the world
(but in different guises) …

Is CSR already out of fashion?

…or back in fashion‐
thanks to outside pressure

It‘s all about profits
From the Economist debate on CSR:
“On its own, a corporation exists to provide
maximum profitability, growth, shareholder value.
Unless we put a price on the earth, price on the
environment and all such related commodities, with
consequent losses or profit to business, businesses
will not take meaningful action on sustainability. So
expecting corporations, proactively, without any
outside pressure, to take *meaningful* action on
sustainability is expecting pigs to fly.”

This is a global media world
Fight excessive drinking in the
UK and Russia
…and sell XXL‐sized containers
of alcohol
2 L cask Australia
5 L bottle

“We may not vote anymore, but we all
go shopping.”
21st century social contract

to be continued
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