Question

Traditionally, business has regarded the natural world as a free and unlimited good. This approach can result in the tragedy of commons, where each person’s pursuit of self-interest can make everyone worse off and in particular the plight of future generations.

At what point do you think future generations have human rights and thus should be considered in the social costs of doing business?

In your answer use appropriate CSR theory and approaches to support your view.

Answer 1

Answer:

The problem of the commons is an economic problem in which every individual of the society has an incentive to consume a resource at the expense of every other individual with no way to exclude anyone from consuming. This results into the overconsumption of the resources and ultimately depletion of the resources. As the demand for the resource increases than the supply, every individual who consumes an additional unit directly harms others who can no longer enjoy the benefits.

Hence, when the individuals in the present time are consuming the additional resources, it can be said that they are lowering down the availability of the resources for the youths of the future time. Companies that exploit the resources and induce the craving of demand for the product among the customers are resulting into the tragedy of commons where they are depleting the resources and are proceeding towards making the resources unavailable for the future generations.

Large numbers of sectors are exploiting the scarce resources such as the crude oil and we can thus witness that these resources are getting depleted in the today’s time. There are several such resources which have a threat of extinction. This is the point where future generations have human rights and thus should be considered in the social cost of doing the business. Companies want to generate more revenues without giving a consideration to the social harm they are causing by using the natural resources in an unlimited and unorganised manner. This is posing a great threat to the future generations and the society as a whole

Taking into consideration the ethical responsibility of the CSR theory, it is the ethical duty of the business to consider the interest of the future generation and while making the strategic decisions; company should consider the future generation as the major stakeholders and should include their interest while making the decisions even if the individuals of the future generation are not the internal part of the company.