Firms primary responsibility is to shareholders not to stakeholders or society at large. Milton Friedman's seminal work was published almost 40 years ago. In "The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits", Friedman argued that business "had no responsibilities other than to maximise profits for the shareholders".
Fascinating analysis of whether CSR can survive recession. Whether business and government will put profit ahead of responsibility or move to embed CSR into ensuring furture profits are sustainable.