Does corporate responsibility equal enlightened self-interest?

The question of having shovel-ready sites and fast tracking the permitting process are issues on which every candidate for public office has been asked to opine.These actions hopefully will attract new businesses to Maricopa; the larger, the better.

If time allowed at the candidates forum at the University of Arizona’s Agriculture Center on Feb. 16, I would have said that my desire to attract major corporations is of primary importance. Especially, because I have managed, regulated, and served on the board of directors of some major corporations.

I know that there is an enormous amount of talk these days about “social responsibility” of corporations. But a corporation, actually has two responsibilities: To show a profit, and to do nothing that is injurious to the social fabric. Environmental, economic, and human problems are normally not the proper concern of corporations, except in a negative sense: they must run their business with a decent regard for the over-all good of the society. If we expect corporations to involve themselves in social policy, who decides which social policies are desirable?

We must be careful not to ask specific institutions to do jobs for which they are not equipped. We demand that educational institutions, for instance, take over a host of tasks they cannot handle. All an ordinary school can do is to teach a child to read, write, count and acquire a few critical skills. Instead, we expect the schools to offer moral, psychological, vocational, and every other kind of training that the family, the church and other institutions should provide. Even though we are headed for hard economic times, many companies realize that they cannot strive in a collapsing municipal environment.

It is essential that any business large or small be assured that this government is open, honest, and free of cronyism.

Without political stability, the future of business is grim. Finally, there are examples of profits to be found in helping solve society’s big problems. Cutting energy consumption and packaging is not just a demonstration to consumers that the company takes climate change seriously. It is also a way to improve profit margins.

But we must always remember that the business of business is to make a profit. This is not a condemnation; it is a statement of fact. There is nothing inherently shameful in making a profit and nothing inherently honorable, either. It is sad only under the pretense that the company is primarily interested in the welfare of the public.

Marvin L. Brown lives in Senita and is a candidate for City Council.

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