The moral responsibility of multinational corporations to be socially responsible

Patricia Werhane

pp. 379-385

in: David Bevan, Regina W. Wolfe (eds), Systems thinking and moral imagination, Berlin, Springer, 2019

Abstract

In this article Werhane challenges a current preoccupation in much of the management literature with corporate social responsibility. She suggests the term 'social" refers to corporate responsibilities to the communities in which they operate, while it largely ignores the importance of moral responsibilities of companies to their other stakeholders including customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders. As a consequence of this oversight, Werhane argues, the term might be usefully truncated to "corporate responsibility" which can be inclusive of legal, ethical and social obligation.Original publication: Werhane, Patricia H. "The Moral Responsibility of Multinational Corporations to Be Socially Responsible." In Emerging Global Business Ethics, edited by W. Michael Hoffman and Bentley College. Center for Business Ethics, 136–42. Westport, CN: Quorum Books, 1994. ©1994 Reprinted with permission.

Cited authors

Hoffman W. Michael