Profiting from corporate responsibility

Companies that act as responsible corporate citizens tend to generate the best long-term returns

The role that Corporate Responsibility (CR) has had to play within companies remains a fine balancing act. In 1970, Milton Friedman wrote that “the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits”. This sentiment is still shared by many today, where CR is considered acceptable only in so far as it does not interfere with creating shareholder value. Yet surprisingly, CR has also come under attack from the opposite end of the ideological spectrum, where some within the progressive sustainability movement have rejected the actions of those who work in the CR field. The environment...