Given the many unethical business practices that have occurred over the past several years, it is obvious that there are consequences between maximizing shareholders wealth and corporate social responsibility.

If you study corporate social responsibility you will find that Milton Friedman believes that the primary responsibility of corporation managers is to maximize shareholder wealth – to do anything else would be . . . unethical. Yet we see time and time again where attempts to maximize shareholder wealth (as well as the wealth of corporate executives) leads to unethical business practices – some which end up creating great hardships on society.

So who has it right? Are corporate managers acting ethically when they are maximizing shareholder wealth or when they are acting in the best interest of society? Is it possible to do both at the same time?

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