Corporate Social Responsibility and the Evolution of International Norms

The current prevailing view - that the only function of business is to maximise profit - continues to dominate in the business world. One position in the literature holds that business cannot adhere to corporate responsibility, because of the highly competitive nature of the global economy, rendering CSR and profit maximisation incompatible. A related argument contends that the interests of shareholders should be given primacy in considerations of a corporation's responsibilities.1