Friedman's Theory/Fundamentalist Theory

Friedman’s position is captured in his pronouncement that “there is one and only one
social responsibility of business- to use its resources and engage in
activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the
rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition,
without deception or fraud.” Friedman (1983) reference to the “rules of the
game” suggests that social responsibility is derived from the general economic
environment or context in which business operates. Friedman’s position on CSR
has been characterized as fundamentalism and gathered under what has been
called the “legal recognition” view. “According to the legal recognition view,
the corporation is an autonomous entity, owned and run by a freely constituted
group. IT is not a creation of society.” Thus the corporation has no special
moral or social obligations. Corporations are fully private, economic
institutions designed only to make money. According to Friedman, the “business
of business is business.”