I picked up on part of an ABC TV discussion on corporate responsibility last night. (My wife winds up the volume to attract my attention.) Someone from the corporate world was trying to defend it by taking a swipe at the record of the churches on social justice issues. Harry accepted that was true, but came back very quickly with something like �it takes one to spot one!� Good retort!
This may have been Insight on SBS last night. Perhaps one of the most significant comments was made at the end, when Jenny Brockie said that only one corporate type (the CEO of Origin Energy) attended that discussion. SBS invited about 30 companies and the BCA to send someone, but they all declined.
That may say something about the pathology of corporations.
Economic rationalism means that this is a single bottom line economy. "Corporate ethics", "environmental sustainability", "social responsibility" etc usually affect that single bottom line adversely. They are all cost activities, not income producing activities, and in any business model you minimise costs and maximise income. It is much cheaper to solve problems of ethics and sustainability with spin than it is to try and actually do something tangible.
Remember that income - costs = profit, and executive bonuses are based on profit or on increases in shareholder value or share price (which are usually based on reported profits).
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