1. Milton Friedman is confident that the “social responsibility” of corporations is solely to
make profits for shareholders. Is Friedman correct and/or to what extent? Discuss.
2. Mathew Lau holds that “[b]usinessmen who preach ‘corporate social responsibility’
pave the road to socialism.” Is this true? Discuss.
3. What does H.J. Smith mean when he claims that “Both the shareholder and stakeholder
theories are normative theories of corporate social responsibility, dictating what a
corporation’s role ought to be”? Discuss.
4. Joseph Heath suggests that when dealing with corporate social responsibility: “The only
way to be a good soldier in an unjust war is to disobey orders, or maybe even to
desert…”? Is this true? Discuss
5. Hockey Canada is a “not for profit” corporation.1 Its recent actions to attempt to cover
up alleged sexual assaults by various Canadian national junior team members has
caused a dialogue about “hockey culture,” misogyny, and corporate “philanthropy” in
Canada. This “scandal” (crime[s]) has led to various corporate sponsors such as Tim
Hortons, Telus, Bauer, Scotiabank, and Canadian Tire, etc., to drop their support of
Hockey Canada: see https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/hockey-canada-absurd-in-itscontinued-resistance-to-leadership-change-observers-say-1.6608287. What are
corporate “persons” (Tim Hortons, Telus, Scotiabank and Canadian Tire, etc.,) doing in
terms of their ‘corporate social responsibility’? “Is that all there is?”2
Is this ‘corporate social responsibility’ in action? Discuss.
6. According to Enrique Dans, “The Volkswagen case represents above all an absolute
failure in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS).”