Corporate Social Objectives

Abstract

Mounting public criticism of big business has forced the managers of large companies to reappraise their relationships with employees, consumers and the community as they have come to recognise that companies have to work within the limits imposed upon them by public opinion and political pressures as well as the restraints imposed by market forces. These non‐market forces such as the pressures of public opinion and the urgings and threats of legislators and bureaucrats have grown in importance over recent decades, paralleling the growth of large business units. Such constraints reflect society's changing view of the role of business, and they become effective through the political process insofar as they can lead to changes in Government regulation of the private sector. Evolving social values have led to demands that companies contribute more to the quality of life than merely perform their traditional economic roles of supplying goods, providing jobs and paying taxes, and since business can only function by public consent then these expectations must be met if businesses are to survive as independent institutions in society.

Citation

Lowes, B. and Pass, C. (1978), "Corporate Social Objectives", Managerial Finance, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 80-90. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013415