Do Big Corporations Provide Welfare In The Same Way As They Are Taken From Society?
Páginas: 6 (1353 palabras)
Publicado: 18 de febrero de 2013
DO BIG CORPORATIONS PROVIDE WELFARE IN THE SAME WAY AS THEY ARE TAKEN FROM SOCIETY?
Although the social responsibility concept is not new around the world, it is just until now that people is taking it serious due to the scientific facts that poof the world is collapsing in several aspects that are directly related to mankind. As a result of this “new” concern of the world, new charactersare appearing on stage in order to solve at least part of the problematic just introduced. In this segment of the “story” big corporations emerge as villains and heroes at the same time. Why is that? Of course people do understand that even though they are responsible (the companies) for most of the damage inflicted, they are, at the same time, aware that companies have the power to change or repairthings more effectively and faster than a common person.
People can see that worry in advertisement, web pages and a lot of papers published in the last years, “transnational corporations and other business enterprises, as organs of society, are also responsible for promoting and securing the human rights set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (University of Minnesota, 2003).But at the same time public in general wonder if these entire booms for environmental and social issues are well intentioned or if it is just some trick that companies are playing on us, “Critics describe CSR as being purely for public relations purposes. They believe corporations are using it as a means of deterring governments from implementing effective regulations” (Guy Standing, 2008), andeven if they considered this compensation good also think if enterprises are fair with all the aspects they affect while performing their economical activities.
BHP for instance represents an example of that relation damage vs. compensation in Sidney, Australia. As it is known Australia haven’t got big extensions of potable water within boarders, “The wetlands, rivers and dams of the regionprovide about 20% of Sydney's water” (Unknown, 2007) and the coal mining activities developed by BHP menace this little vital reservation. As a response the company involved within its usual activities a wide CSR programme that covers specific aspects such as education, pollution, civil society among others that at first sight shows an excellent commitment but looking to it further do not compensatethe real damage to such a delicate environment like the Australian one.
Of course, in order to analyze this problem, we must take a look of the background involved. When transnational companies started to grow all over the world, they did not realize the effect they caused and is causing currently. As a consequence of this growth these companies arrived to third world countries, where theyrealized the lack of regulations and laws to protect social and environmental issues. A capitalist paradise waiting to be exploited by those massive production monsters, creating poverty and death all around them. That situation happened more than 25 years ago where CSR was just a dream waiting to come true. All that destruction left an inerasable foot print into the world’s poorest countries“Accounting for the actual value of natural resources, including resource depletion and population growth, shows that net savings per person are negative in the world's most impoverished countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa" (Ed Stoddard, 2005) , this situation alerted authorities about the abuse in some specific places on the world and encourage the governments to demand some equality and respectfor under privileged countries.
As a consequence of those concerns many regulations were created and implemented, focusing on the welfare of humanity in general but specifically in countries from Africa and South America. Examples of that are documents like: Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights, The Millennium...
Although the social responsibility concept is not new around the world, it is just until now that people is taking it serious due to the scientific facts that poof the world is collapsing in several aspects that are directly related to mankind. As a result of this “new” concern of the world, new charactersare appearing on stage in order to solve at least part of the problematic just introduced. In this segment of the “story” big corporations emerge as villains and heroes at the same time. Why is that? Of course people do understand that even though they are responsible (the companies) for most of the damage inflicted, they are, at the same time, aware that companies have the power to change or repairthings more effectively and faster than a common person.
People can see that worry in advertisement, web pages and a lot of papers published in the last years, “transnational corporations and other business enterprises, as organs of society, are also responsible for promoting and securing the human rights set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (University of Minnesota, 2003).But at the same time public in general wonder if these entire booms for environmental and social issues are well intentioned or if it is just some trick that companies are playing on us, “Critics describe CSR as being purely for public relations purposes. They believe corporations are using it as a means of deterring governments from implementing effective regulations” (Guy Standing, 2008), andeven if they considered this compensation good also think if enterprises are fair with all the aspects they affect while performing their economical activities.
BHP for instance represents an example of that relation damage vs. compensation in Sidney, Australia. As it is known Australia haven’t got big extensions of potable water within boarders, “The wetlands, rivers and dams of the regionprovide about 20% of Sydney's water” (Unknown, 2007) and the coal mining activities developed by BHP menace this little vital reservation. As a response the company involved within its usual activities a wide CSR programme that covers specific aspects such as education, pollution, civil society among others that at first sight shows an excellent commitment but looking to it further do not compensatethe real damage to such a delicate environment like the Australian one.
Of course, in order to analyze this problem, we must take a look of the background involved. When transnational companies started to grow all over the world, they did not realize the effect they caused and is causing currently. As a consequence of this growth these companies arrived to third world countries, where theyrealized the lack of regulations and laws to protect social and environmental issues. A capitalist paradise waiting to be exploited by those massive production monsters, creating poverty and death all around them. That situation happened more than 25 years ago where CSR was just a dream waiting to come true. All that destruction left an inerasable foot print into the world’s poorest countries“Accounting for the actual value of natural resources, including resource depletion and population growth, shows that net savings per person are negative in the world's most impoverished countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa" (Ed Stoddard, 2005) , this situation alerted authorities about the abuse in some specific places on the world and encourage the governments to demand some equality and respectfor under privileged countries.
As a consequence of those concerns many regulations were created and implemented, focusing on the welfare of humanity in general but specifically in countries from Africa and South America. Examples of that are documents like: Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights, The Millennium...
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