Edward Russell-Walling

Economist Milton Friedman and The Economist newspaper (as it likes to call itself) are only two of the parties who have taken a dim view of ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR). Friedman said that the social responsibility of business was to increase its profits. The Economist called it woolly and dangerous thinking and published a two-by-two matrix to explain what that meant. Yet even companies that agree may eventually have to come to terms with it.