You are required to choose one (1) of the following three statements (Topics 1, 2 or 3) and argue either in the affirmative (for) or the negative (against) providing a critical argument with evidence...

Ethics and Governance
Research Essay
Topic 1: Do you think it is legitimate for corporations to engage in public discourse on social and political issues?
Introduction
Corporations form a part of the society that they exist within (Sharma and Talwar 2007). It is thus impossible for any business to exist without engaging with the public as the public is the source of its income as well as the reason for its existence. Some corporations engage with the public strictly for business while others indulge regarding social and political issues (Devinney 2009).
The engagement of businesses with corporations heavily relies on its leadership and business policy. Businesses adopt different approaches to leadership. Some corporations use social entrepreneurship model for effectively integrating ethics, business and social responsibility. Other corporations merely treat ethics as a part of company policy.
Despite these different approaches, it is clear that businesses cannot succeed without adopting some form of ethical behaviour today (Crane 2016). CSR is an excellent form of demonstrating the ethical policy of a business where it can work for the society while demonstrating its goodwill. Public discourse can be viewed as a form of CSR.
Public Discourse can be defined in simple terms as a form of communication that relates to as well as targets the public. Corporations engage in public discourse in one way or another. They may do so in the form of advertisements, statements,
ochures and online content. The point of difference occurs when this engagement touches sensitive issues such as those based in political or social themes. There are differing views regarding the legitimacy of such engagement. Some critics claim that businesses are not authorised to do so while others argue that corporations, under the freedom of speech and opinion can do so. This essay argues that it is legitimate for corporations to engage in public discourse on social and political issues. Companies that are silent and do not express their views today are considered dormant and cold while those that express their views and actively advocate them whether, social or political, are viewed favourably.
Business Ethics, CSR and political CSR
Business ethics entails businesses to work in a socially responsible manner engaging in constructive work and avoiding hindrance to the customers and environment around them. CSR or corporate social responsibility has been considered a form of ethical behaviour by businesses to take social action in order to benefit the public. In spite of that, Blowfield (2004) explains that CSR has often been viewed sceptically by consumers. This is because they often get disappointed by discovering the profit motive behind most CSR activities.
Political corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to businesses taking a political role in order to contribute some form of social or environmental change not necessitated by law but as a voluntary endeavour to benefit the society. Political CSR as a concept focuses on addressing problems that may be environmental and social in nature (Edward and Willmott 2011). Public discourse can be considered a form of political CSR in that it seeks to address some form of social or environmental issue at hand. A corporation may not be taking a physical action but advocating some form of change as CSR.
Why companies engage in CSR
CSR has become an integral part of most corporations today. According to Aksak, Ferguson and Duman (2016), CSR can be considered as a key public relations tool that is used by businesses to communicate their norms and gain legitimacy within their communities. CSR can thus be viewed as a reliable indicator of reputation for businesses.
Companies thus engage in CSR for mainly two reasons. These may be Intrinsic or Extrinsic in nature.
Intrinsic reasons for CSR includes motives that are non-financial such as personal beliefs, values etc. These do not aim at increasing goodwill of a business or
ing a monetary gain. They aim at being conducive to the environment, socially or politically. According to Graafland and Mazereeuw-Va der (2012) intrinsic motives form a vital motivational factor for CSR for all types of organisations. Intrinsic values can further be split into two types. First type are, moral duty, where corporate leaders feel morally obliged to serve the community. Second type stems from altruism where the company’s leaders may just be out for creating...