Corporate - ricknotesricknotes

Society grants rights and privileges to corporations based on the notion that they will be “corporate citizens”. However:

Corporate Citizen (CC)
or
Corporate Sociopath (CS)

CC: Pays all employees a “living wage”
CS: Pays minimum wages to “lower level” employees and higher wages to executives

CC: Works with employees to create benefit plans, pensions, and medical plans as part of employee health and corporate morale
CS: Hires part time employees and provides minimal benefits

CC: Encourages, and partners with, employee organizations and unions to improve safety, productivity, working conditions, etc.
CS: Opposes employee organizations and unions to retain sole control

CC: Considers employees, shareholders and local communities as stakeholders
CS: Considers only shareholders as stakeholders

CC: Pays taxes with pride and amounts according to the intent of the law in the country of operation
CS: Attempts to minimize taxes paid through development and use of “loopholes” and offshore techniques

CC: Recognizes that a strong economy and healthy, intact environment are both essential and interlinked
CS: Attempts to pit jobs against the environment as tradeoffs

CC: Accepts environmental and long term clean up costs as part of doing business, and contributes to solutions when unforeseen problems are found (e.g. pollution, acid rain, climate change)
CS: Considers environmental, pollution and future clean up costs as externalities and attempts to reduce short term costs by transferring them to society and future generations

CC: Considers social responsibility (local and global) as an essential aspect of corporate work
CS: Considers only responsibilities to shareholders and the generation of profits

CC: Acknowledges the importance of social license and recognizes that it is earned
CS: Pursues own agenda regardless of social license