For assignment number 2 (10%) you are required to select a topic of your interest (on the management of innovation for the students following the course or business ethics and corporate governance for those following this course).
You will have to create a question out of the topic that you choose and answer it. Do not answer more than 2 pages. Having done that you then upload your assignment in your own blog.
For example you may well choose diffusion as a topic. Your question could be something like this: "As part of the innovation continuum, diffusion is very important in spreading and marketing an invention to add value to it. Why?"
Start by defining diffusion...
Or
A topic on ethics like hedonism. "Briefly explain on the secular moral concept of hedosism"
Email to me stating that you have completed your assignment after you have uploaded it. You must submit your assignment via your blog before the end of the sixth (6) week.
Good luck.
Souce : http://dinalorstar.blogspot.com/2013/02/assignment-2.html
My Submission
What is the nature of corporate social responsibilities?
Corporate social responsibility includes the economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic expectations placed on
organizations by society at a given point in time.
1 ) Economic Responsibility
Company have shareholders who demand a reasonable return on their investments, they have employees who want safe and fairly paid jobs, they have customers who demand good quality products at a fair price, etc. This is, by definition, the reason why businesses are set up in society and so the first responsibility of business is to be a properly functioning economic unit and to stay in business. This first layer of CSR is the basis for all the subsequent responsibilities, which rest on this (ideally) solid basis.
2) Legal Responsibility
The legal responsibility of corporations demand that businesses abide by the law and play by the rules of the game. Law, are the codification of society moral views, and therefore abiding by these standards is a necessary prerequisite for any further reasoning about social responsibilities. For example, in the last few years a number of high profit firms have been convicted of anti-competitive behavior as a result of illegal strategies aimed at maintaining market share and profitability on their economic.
3) Ethical Responsibility
There responsibilities oblige corporations to do what is right, just, and fair even when they are not compelled to do so by the legal framework. A good example of ethical responsibilities is the issue of climate change for companies in North America, where unlike in Europe, a consistent regulatory framework has yet to be developed.
4) Philanthropic Responsibility
Lastly, looks at the philanthropic responsibilities of corporations. The Greek word ‘philanthropy’ means literally the love of the fellow man. By using this idea in a business context, the model incorporates activities that are within the corporations discretion to improve the quality of life of employees, local communities and ultimately society in general.
However, its main limitation is that it does not adequately address the problem of what should happen when two or more responsibilities are in conflict. For example, the threat of plant closures and/or job losses often raises the problem of balancing economic responsibilities with ethical responsibilities to provide secure jobs to employees.
