CSR - The Classic Milton Friedman Clip

Students researching the issues surrounding corporate social responsibility need to understand and be able to articulate the counter argument to CSR - namely that firms primary responsibility is to shareholders not to stakeholders or society at large. The most famous proponent of this “shareholder perspective” was Milton Friedman whose seminal work was published almost 40 years ago. In “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits”, Friedman argued that business leaders “had no responsibilities other than to maximise profits for the shareholders”. It will be interesting to see how many well-prepared students refer to Friedman in their AQA BUSS4 essays. For colleagues who would like to show students the man in question, here is a famous video clip where Friedman argues his case for the profit motive…

The video will play below. Wikipedia has a detailed profile of Friedman here