The Social Responsibility of Business

Milton Friedman famously argued that the sole social responsibility of business was to create value for shareholders. This view was the predominant view for decades. In 2019, the Business Roundtable made headlines, by adopting a stakeholder capitalism model, which calls on businesses to look beyond profit maximization, and to consider other business constituents, such as employees, suppliers, the community and even broader social concerns, such as environment or racial justice. This panel examines the question “What is the purpose of business?”