Is corporate social responsibility 'hypocritical window dressing' - Essay Example

rity, many businesses have been spending a lot of resources on this area and the number of activities done in the name of corporate responsibility have increased tremendously. These activities range from simple philanthropic activities to costly scientific activities, which involve heavy spending of the respective firms’ resources. Companies do not engage in these activities to just improve the living conditions of the people since the goals of majority of these organizations is profit maximizations.

They can therefore not channel many resources on ventures that are not promising positive effects on their revenue collections and just as Milton Friedman said corporate social responsibility is merely hypocritical window dressing (Muhr, Sorensen & Vallentin 2010, p.87). CSR is hypocritical since it does not seek to solve real problems, which affect people rather it is geared towards solving the problems that are either directly or indirectly connected to. A company can only be said to be sincere in its involvement in offering social responsibility if it seeks to provide remedy for all the harm it causes to all the people regardless of their location in the course of its operations.

One of the reasons that justify the claim that CSR is hypocritical window dressing is its main aim of involvement in the community’s activities, which is to improve the firm’s reputation in the market it operates in. A good reputation adds value to the worth of a business organization, which is evidenced in such activities as increased shareholders value, and increased sales since majority of consumers prefer organizations that seem to be involved in improving the living conditions of the people (Doorley & Helio 2015, p.5). Organizations have understood this and they therefore design all their corporate social involvement in such a way that will result to creation of a good name in the market.

They for example report their social involvements and their efforts to improve the