LS312 Ethics and the Legal Environment

More than 6000 companies have joined the Benefit or B Corporation movement which redefines what business success means and redirects the power of business. B Corporations focus on the “triple bottom line”: profit, people and planet.

Please analyze the concept of corporate social responsibility by researching and discussing the following questions:

1. How is corporate social responsibility defined? How are traditional corporations and benefit corporations similar? What are the main differences between them?
2. Research and locate a company operating in the U.S. that has been certified by B Lab. What kind of business is it? How does it serve the triple bottom line? A good starting point is the B Lab website: www.bcorporation.net.
3. American economist Milton Friedman wrote that if business executives use corporate resources to benefit society they are basically stealing from their shareholders instead of serving their interests. How would a proponent of the benefit corporation answer this argument?
4. Forbes Magazine named ExxonMobil “Green Company of the Year” in 2009 for its focus on natural gas (as opposed to coal). In that same year, ExxonMobil was lobbying against the scientific consensus that climate change was occurring and that it was mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels. If Exxon was a benefit corporation, explain whether shareholders could sue its directors for this inconsistency. Discuss whether Exxon’s environmental policies in recent years reflect corporate social responsibility.

Your paper should be a total of three double-spaced pages of content, excluding your title and references pages. Please use at least two authoritative sources outside of the textbook.

Viewpoint and purpose should be clearly established and sustained

• Writing should be well ordered, logical, and unified, as well as original and insightful
• Appropriate citation style should be followed