Do corporations have a responsibility only to make a profit?.
Corporations have a responsibility to make profits but not to make profits alone. They also have a responsibility toward the environment. A responsibility toward the environment should be something that is universal for corporations. This ties into the Kantian Ethical Theory which is the idea of acting on maxims that should become universal laws for everyone's behavior is the fundamental principle of right conduct. To prove that corporations not only have a responsibility toward making a profit, but also to the environment, I will use several corporations that have an environmental policy as examples. First I want to define corporate responsibility. Corporate responsibility is a term which describes the ethical approach that companies should incorporate into their business practices and products. It covers a range of social, labor and environmental issues. With respect to the environment, much of the work on corporate responsibility has happened in the context of "sustainable development", the term made popular by the World Commission on Environment and Development. More recently, the public backlash against free trade and large corporations has also contributed to the call for greater transparency and accountability in corporate activities.
One corporation that not only looks to make a profit but also looks out for the environment is the Nike Corporation. In October 2001, in a partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Center for Energy & Climate Solutions, Nike formally committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions across its operations worldwide and will measure greenhouse gas emissions from contracted manufacturing and shipping operations with the intent to ultimately reduce those emissions. Says David. B. Sandlow, executive vice president of the WWF, "Nike is making great strides in its effort to help save the planet.