At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, one particular topic drew unusually strong support — the need for organizations across the board to contribute more to the war on global poverty and illness. Part of this push towards greater social advocacy is directed squarely at corporations, whose resources are seen as necessary to address such specific problems as the AIDS crisis in Africa and the lack of vaccines for children in the developing world. At the same time, critics of the corporate social responsibility movement respond that a company’s main duty is to its shareholders, not society at large. Last month, Wharton legal studies professor Nien-hê Hsieh tackled this topic during a seminar on “Multinational Corporations (MNCs) and the Ethics of Assistance,” in which he noted that two principles may justify corporate social responsibility: Rescue and fairness.
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