Reference no: EM132112549

Clearly at the center of many of our ethical investigations into business is the claim that in and of itself economic activity is a "good" thing for society. Though the claim can take many forms several people have held that market forces will generate market based solutions that, in turn, will provide a sufficient mechanism for protecting "social goods", thereby obviating the need for either Government regulation or Corporate dalliance in social responsibility. In addition to the properly moral issue of whether or not corporations have obligations to more than mere shareholders (stakeholder theory) doubts about the actual efficacy of the "invisible hand" have come from many sectors. Focusing on one or more of the case studies presented thus far write for a general reader that 1) Presents the case for market based views on maximizing social utility; 2) Raises potential counter examples to these claims; and, 3) Suggests both a potential resolution of the tensions between 1 and 2 and how these resolutions relate to broader moral commitments (e.g. placing a moral primacy on the causes of actions (Kant), the consequences of actions (Mill), the importance of individual liberty (Nozick), or fairness and social welfare (Rawls).