What’s Corporate Social Responsibility?

Corporate social responsibility(CSR) is commonly referred to as going “green”, but in reality it is much more than that. CSR is about maintaining a fluid business but at the same time regulating the impact that said business has on society in various areas. These areas consist of the surrounding environment, local communities and also the quality of treatment it’s employees receive. A certain amount of morality must be present in the business owner for CSR to become existent. Although some say that it is a corporation’s sole responsibility to make money, they really owe much more to the world around them and likewise, having a relative amount of corporate responsibility can certainly improve a company’s profit.

All around the world, drug companies are taking the liberty of patenting every product they can and sending the prices of prescription drugs through the roof. In many places the prices for drugs has become so outrageous that the government cannot afford to even provide them for it’s people. In the third-world country of Myanmar, commonly known as Burma, AIDS victims as well as tuberculosis patients are not getting the help they need solely because of the price of the treatments. In an article by Margie Mason, and AP medical writer this statistic is given, “Many of the 200 people crammed into the two small buildings of an HIV center just outside Yangon are simply waiting to die”(Mason 1). This shows how ridiculous treatment is in countries were the resources are simply not available because of the economic status of it’s people. The people in Burma are not getting nearly enough help as people in the U.S. or Great Britain. Mason also includes,The World Health Organization recommends treatment start when this all-important CD4 count drops to 350. In Myanmar, it must fall below 150”(1). These numbers are important because it shows how near death patients have to be to get any treatment at all in Burma. The AIDS disease has already completely taken control of the body by this point and it is too late. People are hoping to get sicker just so that they can get treatment. If drug companies would only lower the prices of their insanely priced drugs, people would not have to die. Drug companies need to be liable for amount of consideration for human life. While discussing social responsibility and global pharmaceutical companies David Resnik states, “The duty of providing life saving drugs to the developing world is owed to all people and it should be a requirement of companies to promote the wellbeing of humankind”(Resnik 2). No one is asking these companies to give their product away, but they need to find their deep rooted morals somewhere and help out people in desperate need. It may be a small cut of the multi-million dollar profit, but they can manage. Corporations that hold so much power and wealth need to realize that CSR is a necessary component to running an effective business; more so a priority to the world. Certain drug companies literally hold six figures of human lives in their hands, and ultimately should be held responsible to at least provide a relative amount of aid to populations of people in need.

Incorporating CSR into the business world does not mean that there has to be a dip in profits. A component of CSR as simple as fair treatment can prove to be beneficial to a company’s overall success. During a study of the Spanish banking sector, results showed that people value other things besides price when making deposit and mortgage decisions; particularly a corporations CSR. When concluding from the results of their observational experiment, either Muñoz or Gonzàles says, “The