Introduction

My theme test work: “Social responsibility and business ethics: formation, development, practical application.”

Business ethics as an applied field of knowledge was formed in the United States and in Western Europe in the 1970s of the 20th century. However, the moral aspects of business attracted researchers already in the 60s. The scientific community and the business world have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to increase the "ethical consciousness" of business professionals in their business transactions, as well as the "responsibility of corporations to society." Particular attention was paid to the increasing incidence of corruption, both among government bureaucracies and among senior officials of various corporations. The famous “Watergate,” in which the most prominent representatives of President R. Nixon’s administration were involved, played a certain role in the development of business ethics as a scientific discipline. By the early 1980s, most business schools in the United States, as well as some universities, had included business ethics in their curricula. Currently, a course in business ethics is included in the curricula of some Russian universities.

There are two main points of view on the relationship between universal ethical principles and business ethics: 1) the rules of ordinary morality do not apply to business or apply to a lesser extent; 2) business ethics is based on universal universal ethical standards (be honest, do no harm, keep your word, etc.), which are specified taking into account the specific social role of business in society. Theoretically, the second point of view is considered more correct.

Issues of the relationship between ethics and economics in Lately are beginning to be actively discussed in our country.

The purpose of the test is to consider issues of social responsibility and business ethics.

Tasks: 1) Social responsibility formation, development,

practical use.

2) business ethics formation, development, practical

application.

Question No. 1. Social responsibility and business ethics: formation, development, practical application

The role of business in society

Social policy is one of the most important areas government regulation economy. It is an organic part of the state’s internal policy, aimed at ensuring the well-being and comprehensive development of its citizens and society as a whole. The significance of social policy is determined by its influence on reproduction processes work force, increasing labor productivity, educational and qualification levels labor resources, on the level of scientific and technical development of productive forces, on the cultural and spiritual life of society. Social policy aimed at improving working and living conditions, developing physical education and sports, reduces morbidity and thereby has a tangible impact on reducing economic losses in production. As a result of the development of such systems in the social sphere as public catering and preschool education, part of the population is freed from the household sphere and employment in public production increases. Science and scientific support, which determine the prospects for the economic development of the country, are also part of the social sphere and their development and effectiveness are regulated within the framework of social policy. Social sphere not only regulates the processes of employment of the population, but is also a direct place of application of labor and provides work for millions of people in the country.

The main objectives of social policy are:

1. Harmonization of social relations, coordination of the interests and needs of individual groups of the population with the long-term interests of society, stabilization of the socio-political system.

2. Creating conditions to ensure the material well-being of citizens, creating economic incentives for participation in social production, ensuring equality of social opportunities to achieve a normal standard of living.

3. Ensuring social protection of all citizens and their basic state-guaranteed socio-economic rights, including support for low-income and weakly protected groups of the population.

4. Ensuring rational employment in society.

5. reducing the level of criminalization in society.

6. Development of sectors of the social complex, such as education, healthcare, science, culture, housing and communal services, etc.

7. Ensuring the country's environmental safety.

Social responsibility of business is doing business according to the norms and laws adopted in the country where it is located. This is job creation. This is charity and the creation of various funds to help various social strata of society. This is to provide protection environment of their production, and much more supporting social status in the country.

Business takes on the functions of the state and this is called social responsibility. This is primarily due to the lack of appropriate government policy in the field of social responsibility of business. The state itself cannot determine the model of relations with business.

There are two points of view on how organizations should behave in relation to their social environment in order to be considered socially responsible. According to one of them, an organization is socially responsible when it maximizes profits without violating laws and government regulations. From these positions, the organization should pursue only economic goals. According to another view, an organization, in addition to its economic responsibilities, has a responsibility to consider the human and social aspects of the impact of its business activities on workers, consumers and the local communities in which it operates, and to make some positive contribution to solving social problems in general.

The concept of social responsibility is that an organization performs the economic function of producing products and services needed by a free market society while providing jobs for citizens and maximum profits and rewards for shareholders. According to this view, organizations have responsibilities to the society in which they operate, above and beyond ensuring efficiency, employment, profit, and compliance with the law. Organizations should therefore direct some of their resources and efforts through social channels. Social responsibility, unlike legal responsibility, implies a certain level of voluntary response to social problems on the part of the organization.

Debates about the role of business in society have given rise to arguments for and against social responsibility.

Arguments for social responsibility

Favorable long-term prospects for business. Social actions by businesses that improve the local community or eliminate the need for government regulation may be in the businesses' own interests because of the benefits provided by community participation. In a society that is more prosperous from a social point of view, conditions are more favorable for business activities. Moreover, even if the short-term costs of social action are high, long term they can stimulate profits by creating a more attractive image of the business among consumers, suppliers and the local community.

Changing needs and expectations of the general public. Social expectations surrounding business have changed radically since the 1960s. To narrow the gap between new expectations and the actual response of enterprises, their involvement in solving social problems becomes both expected and necessary.

Availability of resources to help solve social problems. Since business has significant human and financial resources, it should transfer part of them to social needs.

Moral obligation to behave socially responsibly. An enterprise is a member of society, so moral standards must also govern its behavior. An enterprise, like individual members of society, must act in a socially responsible manner and contribute to strengthening the moral foundations of society. Moreover, since laws cannot cover all situations, businesses must engage in responsible behavior to maintain a society based on order and law.

Arguments against social responsibility

Violation of the principle of profit maximization. Directing part of the resources to social needs reduces the influence of the principle of profit maximization. The enterprise behaves in the most socially responsible manner, focusing only on economic interests and leaving social problems to government agencies and services, charitable institutions and educational organizations.

Social Involvement Expenditures. Funds allocated for social needs are costs for the enterprise. Ultimately, these costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. In addition, firms that compete in international markets with firms in other countries that do not incur social costs are at a competitive disadvantage. As a result, their sales in international markets decrease, which leads to a deterioration in the US balance of payments in foreign trade.

Insufficient level of reporting to the general public. Because managers are not elected, they are not accountable to the general public. The market system controls the economic performance of enterprises well and poorly controls their social involvement. Until society develops a procedure for enterprises to directly report to it, the latter will not participate in social actions for which they do not consider themselves responsible.

Lack of ability to solve social problems. The personnel of any enterprise are best prepared for activities in the fields of economics, market and technology. He lacks the experience to make meaningful contributions to solving social problems. The improvement of society should be facilitated by specialists working in relevant government agencies and charitable organizations.

Social responsibility in practice

According to research on the attitude of executives towards corporate social responsibility, there is a clear shift towards increasing it. The executives surveyed believe that the pressure to make businesses more socially responsible is real, important, and will continue. Other studies have shown that members of the top management of firms began to participate in work local communities as volunteers.

Executives say the biggest obstacle to developing social responsibility programs is the demands of front-line employees and managers to increase earnings per share on a quarterly basis. The desire to quickly increase profits and income forces managers to refuse to transfer part of their resources to programs driven by social responsibility. Organizations are taking numerous steps in the area of ​​voluntary participation in society.

basis modern ethics business is a social contract and the social responsibility of the businessman, as well as the entire corporation, to society. At the same time, a social contract is an informal agreement between a company and its external environment on common moral and ethical standards of behavior. A mandatory component of business ethics is social responsibility, which means maximizing the use of its advantages and minimizing negative business processes affecting both market participants and society as a whole(non-causing harm and damage to society, the state, the economy, the environment and other areas of human life).

For many people, the concepts of "business" and "ethics" are not easy to reconcile. As one American journalist put it, “business and ethics are an obvious contradiction, as absurd as a giant shrimp.” Most executives believe that companies should not follow business ethics at all, so why worry too much about social responsibility, morality and the environment. If society wants companies to bring all this to the fore, then company managers must reconsider the entire system of management and regulation. Thirty years ago, Milton Friedman, a prominent American economist, said, "There is one and only one social responsibility of business - to use its resources and engage in activities aimed at increasing profits."

It is quite difficult for companies to combine ethical principles and the objective need to reproduce profits. There is always a dilemma when money and morality collide and come into conflict, what decision should the company take.

In the history of modernization of human societies, the emergence of more complex market systems has often been accompanied by sharp criticism from the standpoint of ethical and social perspectives. In a world that is becoming increasingly faceless and characterized by far-reaching mediated social interaction, social relations are increasingly built on a formal, contractual and monetary basis.

The historical development of industrial societies for a long time proceeded within relatively firmly established frameworks. regulatory systems. In modern society, normative and ideological pluralism is manifested, which sometimes appears in the form of permissiveness and irresponsibility.

The first attempts to introduce ethical principles were made in the mid-80s in the USA. In 1985, General Dynamics created a corporate ethics complex because it was under scrutiny for price manipulation. Under pressure from the Department of Defense, an initiative group was organized, including about 60 companies, which initiated the creation of a program of ethical agreements. In 1991, US judges were given the power to reduce fines in cases involving companies that promote ethical behavior. There is now a large ethical industry in America. This includes holding consultations and conferences, publishing magazines and establishing an award for corporate conscience. Auditing firms offer to conduct an “audit” of the ethical aspect of a company’s work. In business ethics, many philosophical and cultural principles have turned out to be in demand, which, by exploring morality at the level of human cognition, explain the nature of the virtues that underlie ethics. Sometimes modern philosophers act as experts and advise on issues of morality and ethics, however, many issues become most pressing from the position of social responsibility.

Issues such as trust and human relations, become difficult to resolve when a company invades the privacy of its employees. Example - dismissal of employees, accrual wages, these are conflicting issues in any enterprise, often treated unethically.

Revolution in the field communication technologies, in turn created many dilemmas. As soon as any new technology, businesses immediately face questions about the ethical aspect of its use. For example, companies are faced with problems of protecting the information and privacy of their customers. Currently, enterprises know almost everything about the tastes of their customers, but this raises the question of whether knowledge of this kind is ethical or unethical.

The process of globalization has given debates about corporate ethics even more acute form. When a company operates abroad, it faces completely new ethical and moral issues. The biggest problem is the discrepancies in ethical standards different countries. Many companies first encountered the moral dilemma of globalization when they were forced to decide whether to meet local standards if they were significantly lower than those in their home countries. This debate came to public attention in the wake of the 1984 Bhopal disaster, when an explosion at the Union Carbide plant in India killed 8,000 people. As a result of numerous discussions, global standards on safety, health and environment were adopted, which subsequently became international standards in the field of health and ethical conduct of personnel.

One more acute problem business ethics as social responsibility constitute corruption and bribery. This phenomenon is condemned not only because it promotes unfair competition, but also because the company, when giving bribes, acts only in its own interests and does not take into account the opinion of society. However, the bribe is often hidden. Organizations are forced to comply with the rules of the country where they operate, and sometimes it is necessary to provide “support” to the local population, etc. The conditions of many tenders contain requirements for certain social guarantees and the obligations that a company must undertake in exchange for the right to develop deposits or implement a project.

Why has bribery become the number one issue for business ethics? Firstly, due to the increase in volumes "" international trade and the need for companies to operate globally. Over the past twenty years, global trade turnover has increased 10 times, and the volume of investment has increased 20 times. Large companies are forced to adapt to different customs regimes, laws and traditions. Small and medium-sized enterprises are also fighting for their place in the market. Finally, fierce competition and a high degree of business regulation mean that starting a new business “by law” is too expensive; it is better to take a detour. According to the World Bank in developed countries bribes reach 20-30 % amounts of concluded contracts. In developing countries, especially in Latin America and Southeast Asia they make up 5-30% of all public finance. Secondly, legislation adopted to combat bribery is rarely enforced due to its ineffectiveness. So, in 1977, the United States adopted the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA – Foreign Corrupt Practices Act). This law punishes American companies if they pay bribes abroad, directly or through intermediaries. Previously, companies only had to report giving a bribe and were not subject to criminal punishment. However, the law did not work due to the vagueness of its wording and the complexity of formal procedures: it is difficult to prove both the fact of giving a bribe abroad and its amount, but, unfortunately, those companies that voluntarily follow the letter of the law suffer losses.A 1993 study of 336 US exporting companies found that two-thirds of the firms on the list had lost some positions in foreign markets because competitors from other countries paid bribes.

Corruption and bribery are rampant in Russian business both internationally and nationally. According to unofficial data published in the media mass media Russian Federation, the lion's share of transactions with foreign countries is carried out through the “pocket” of officials of various ministries and departments.

The problem of the relationship between business ethics and government is directly related to corruption and bribery. In the domestic market, companies defend their interests according to ethical standards, which, however, are not always correct from the point of view of public morality. We are talking about lobbying and political sponsorship carried out by chambers of commerce and industry and various business associations. The essence of the work of such organizations is legal lobbying. The association articulates the interests of its members and, on the basis that they are important taxpayers and employers, insists that the government fulfill their wishes. As a rule, companies outside such associations cannot influence lawmaking. Political sponsorship is related to the financing of parties in elections. Most Western countries allow either anonymous donations or large one-time contributions from companies to party funds. In our country, election campaigns in a number of cases indicate bribery, money laundering and other unseemly acts by high-ranking officials.

There are many problems at the legislative level. Especially it concerns modern stage development of economics and legislation. The beginning of large-scale redistribution of property in Russia is associated with the privatization of the 1990s; there is no need to describe the facts of unethical behavior of many leaders who take over large profitable production, however, the process did not stop there. A decade later, the redistribution of property continues; are falling apart large companies as a result of the consolidation of certain interest groups, which is contrary to business ethics and the law - the interests of small shareholders are violated, deliberately leading to the bankruptcy of an enterprise of national importance with the sole purpose of redistributing property.

An important aspect of the study and application of business ethics is the assessment of the behavior of companies from the point of view of the interests of society. Here, researchers proceed from the social responsibility that companies bear to society (in the narrow sense: how useful they are to society when they work in their own interests). They are employers, which means they create employment. In addition, they influence the consumption market and are customers of the system for training qualified personnel. The budgets of large companies are comparable to the budgets of small states, therefore the social aspect of business ethics is associated with responsibility for the actions of managers in deciding the social policy of not only enterprises, but also entire regions. We are talking about the influence of labor markets. Layoffs in large companies can throw thousands of unemployed people into the market. Taking advantage of this, large companies, for example, JSC Rudgormash (Voronezh), ask for state support in the form of government orders or financial assistance. Such “blackmail” of the state is considered more acceptable than mass layoffs. Companies take advantage of the fact that politicians and officials are afraid social unrest, besides, they need the support of companies in elections and in the implementation of large-scale projects. Companies also help politicians and the economy by trying to support the national workforce. For example, Russia's construction industry allows the use of foreign labor, but the recently adopted law on emigrants will reduce the influx of foreign labor and provide jobs for Russian construction workers.

The business ethics of companies must necessarily be consistent with economic responsibility. For example, the “brain drain” from domestic enterprises abroad has caused enormous damage Russian economy. The business community is neutral towards such transactions. This cannot be approved, “but it is also impossible to condemn, because the previous public morality does not affect this problem in any way, and the liberal doctrine seems to imply the possibility of such a “flow.” This example shows that ethics, like morality, only fix reality, but do not affect business.

In works on management, the concepts of “social responsibility of enterprises” and “business ethics” are often used.

Social responsibility- implies a certain level of voluntary response to social problems from the outside.

There are two different views on how organizations should behave in relation to their social environment in order to be considered socially responsible.

1. The organization maximizes profits without violating laws and government regulations.
2. The organization, in addition to economic responsibility, is obliged to take into account the human and social aspects of the impact of its business activities on employees, consumers, and also make a certain positive contribution to solving social problems in general.

The public is waiting from modern organizations not only high economic results, but also significant achievements in terms of social goals of society.

Social actions of enterprises, improving the lives of local people, eliminating the need for government regulation and can be used to the benefit of businesses. In a society that is prosperous from a social point of view, the conditions for business activities improve. having an attractive image among consumers can increase profits by increasing sales volume. On the other hand, social costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Ethics deals with the principles that define right and wrong behavior. For example, the actions of managers who break the law should be considered unethical. Actions should also be considered unethical when a businessman is in a quasi-legal space and gets the opportunity to break the law, while formally being protected by other laws.

Ethical standards describe a system of shared values ​​and ethical rules that an organization believes employees should adhere to.

Ethical standards are developed to describe the goals of the organization, create a sound ethical atmosphere and provide ethical guidelines in decision-making processes. Some organizations create special ethics committees to evaluate daily practices from an ethical perspective. Almost all members of such committees are senior level managers.

Leader Ethics— a system of norms of moral behavior for a manager, based on understanding and taking into account the psychology of employees, personality development, management culture and the ability to manage one’s feelings and emotions in the process of personal relationships with subordinates, senior managers and colleagues.

Definitions and comparison of the concepts of “social responsibility” and “business ethics”

Perhaps today it is difficult to find a more fashionable word among domestic entrepreneurs than “business ethics,” and most recently the word “social responsibility” has been added to it. In this paragraph I will try to figure out what they mean and how they differ.

As is known, there is universal ethics as a system of norms of moral behavior of people, their relationships to each other and to society as a whole. But at the same time, in some areas professional activity developed its own specific ethics.

To begin with, let’s define the concept itself “ business ethics", or "business ethics". Professor P.V. Malinovsky interprets this term in this way:

“Business ethics in a broad sense is a set of ethical principles and norms that should guide the activities of organizations and their members in the field of management and entrepreneurship. It covers phenomena of various orders: ethical assessment of both internal and external policies of the organization as a whole; moral principles members of the organization, i.e. professional morality; moral climate in the organization; patterns of moral behavior; norms business etiquette- ritualized external norms of behavior” Business ethics. A.N.Dyatlov, M.V.Plotnikov: federal educational portal. URL: http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/db/msg/203213.html (access date: 03.15.09).

Thus, business ethics is one of the types of professional ethics - this is the ethics of people working in the field of business. When they talk about the business ethics of any company, they mean the ethical foundations of business, implemented through managers. The business culture of a company refers to intra-company traditions and rituals; the common values ​​shared by its employees; communication system, including informal relationships; established methods of business practice and work organization. Business culture company is closely linked to the ethical principles of business, which are its integral elements.

Thus, we can come to the conclusion that business ethics is a system general principles and rules of behavior of subjects entrepreneurial activity, their communication and work style, manifested at the micro and macro levels of market relations. Business ethics is based on the doctrine of the role of morality and morality in business relationships, which reflect the material conditions of society.

Business ethics is also a system of knowledge about labor and professional morality, its history and practice. This is a system of knowledge about how people are used to relating to their work, what meaning they give to it, what place it occupies in their lives, how relationships develop between people in the process of work, how people’s inclinations and ideals ensure effective work, and which ones hinder to him.

Business ethics regulates, inspires and at the same time limits the actions of business entities, minimizing intra-group contradictions, subordinating individual interests to group ones. Makeeva V.G. Entrepreneurship culture: Textbook. manual for universities in economics. specialist. - M.: INFRA-M, 2002.p.154.

There are several related concepts. For example, economic ethics (or entrepreneurial ethics) deals with the question of what moral norms or ideals may be important for entrepreneurs in a modern market economy Homann K., Blome-Drez F. Economic and entrepreneurial ethics // Political and economic ethics M. , 2001.p.89..

Entrepreneurial ethics timatizes the relationship between morality and profit in the management of entrepreneurs and deals with the question of how moral standards and ideals can be realized by entrepreneurs in a modern economy.

The goal of entrepreneurial activity is to maximize profits.

Principles of ethics business relations- a generalized expression of moral requirements developed in the moral consciousness of society, which indicate the necessary behavior of participants in business relations. Kibanov A.Ya., Zakharov D.K., Konovalova V.G. Ethics of business relations. M., 2002. P. 21

In general, business ethics can be defined as the scientific discipline that studies the application of ethical principles to business situations. The most pressing issue in business ethics is the relationship between corporate and universal ethics, the social responsibility of business, and the application of general ethical principles to specific situations.

Business ethics, in the part that considers the issue of compliance of the entrepreneur’s activities with the framework order or the problem of perfection of the framework order itself, the degree of responsibility of the entrepreneur to society, etc., can be considered as part of social ethics.

Business ethics, in the part where practical issues of behavior of executives and managers, relationships between company employees, consumer rights, moral standards and value conflicts are discussed, is one of the types of professional ethics.

At the macro level, business ethics refers to the ethics of social order.

At the micro level, this is the doctrine of the goals, values ​​and rules of entrepreneurial activity.

So, modern business ethics is based on the mutual agreement of three most important provisions:

1. The creation of wealth in all its diversity of forms is considered as an inherently important process.

This is why any enterprise exists.

2. Profit and other income are considered as the result of the achievement of various socially significant goals.

3. Priority in solving problems arising in the business world should be given to the interests of interpersonal relationships, rather than to production. Kibanov, Zakharov, Konovalov. Ethics of business relations, M., 2003, p.8.

In turn, De George identifies the following levels of analysis of business ethics:

1. When viewed in the American context, business ethics at the macro level focuses primarily on moral judgment economic system American free enterprise and its possible alternatives and modifications.

2. The second level of analysis of ethics - and today it attracts the closest attention - is the study of business inside American system free enterprise.

3. Moral assessment of individuals and their actions in economic and commercial transactions within the framework of an organized corporate activities forms the third level of business ethics research.

4. Finally, as business becomes more international and global, the fourth level of analysis of its ethics is international in nature and examines the activities of American and other transnational corporations.

Thus, I came to the final conclusion that business ethics covers five types of activities:

The first is the application of general ethical principles to specific situations or business practices.

The second type of her activity is metaethics, which deals with the consistency of ethical concepts.

The third area of ​​business ethics research is the analysis of its initial premises - both moral ones themselves and premises based on moral positions.

Fourth, intervening external problems sometimes force business ethics researchers to go beyond ethics and turn to other branches of philosophy and other branches of science, for example, economics or organization theory.

The fifth is to characterize the morally praiseworthy and exemplary actions of both individual business people and specific firms.

In conclusion, I would like to outline the importance of business ethics in the modern world. So, business ethics can help people:

· consider moral problems in business systematically and with more reliable methods than they could do without using our science;

· it can help them see problems that they would not have noticed in their daily practice;

· it can also motivate them to introduce changes that they would not have thought to introduce without it.

In my opinion, it is very important that the concept of “business ethics” applies both to an individual manager or entrepreneur, and to the company as a whole. And if for a businessman it means him professional ethics, then for the company this is a kind of code of honor that underlies its activities. The basic principles of business ethics include, first of all, such traditional values ​​developed over long history global entrepreneurship, such as respect for the law, honesty, fidelity to the word and the concluded agreement, reliability and mutual trust. A relatively new principle of modern business ethics is the principle of social responsibility, which began to be seriously thought about in the West only a couple of decades ago, and in Russia not so long ago. All these principles should underlie all types of business relationships.

In order for the company's behavior to be recognized as socially responsible, i.e. ethical in the modern sense, it is not enough just to comply with the law or be honest with consumers or business partners. While legal responsibility is the norms and rules of behavior defined by law, social responsibility (also called corporate social responsibility, responsible business and corporate social performance) means following the spirit rather than the letter of the law, or complying with norms that have not yet been included into legislation or exceed legal requirements.

There is no generally accepted definition of social responsibility of business in international practice, which gives reason to understand the term “social responsibility of business” for everyone in their own way.

Social responsibility of business includes charity, patronage of the arts, corporate social responsibility, social marketing programs, sponsorship, philanthropy, etc.

To summarize, we can say that the social responsibility of business is the influence of business on society, the responsibility of those who make business decisions to those who are directly or indirectly affected by these decisions.

This definition of social responsibility of business is rather ideal, and cannot be fully translated into reality, if only because it is simply impossible to calculate all the consequences of one decision. But, in my opinion, social responsibility of business is not a rule, but an ethical principle that should be involved in the decision-making process.

Thus, we can conclude that the concepts of “business ethics” and “social responsibility” are related as general ethical grounds business with a private principle.

At the beginning of the twentieth century. The first attempts to show social responsibility in business can be called charitable activities. For example, John D. Rockefeller donated $550 million to various charities and founded the Rockefeller Foundation. Chapter American corporation Sears Robert E. Wood in 1936 spoke of social obligations that cannot be expressed mathematically, but can nevertheless be considered of paramount importance. He meant the influence that society has on an organization operating in market economy. One of the first Western entrepreneurs, Sears recognized the “multi-layered public” that the company served, highlighting not only such groups as shareholders, with whom relationships were traditionally important for any company, but also consumers, workers themselves, and local communities. He was also a supporter of solving social problems not only by the state, but also by corporate management. However, Sears recognized that it is difficult to quantify the costs and benefits of corporate social responsibility to society. His views did not receive widespread support, in particular because in the 30s. XX century - the years of the Great Depression - all layers of society faced the urgent question of survival, and business was expected, first of all, to make profits.

ABOUT controversial motives related to the concept of social responsibility of business will be discussed in the second chapter of my work.

So, some entrepreneurs believed that wealth obliges, i.e. they needed to share it with their loved ones, and they spent a lot of money on charity, aimed, among other things, at their employees. For example, George Cadbury, the founder of the food production company of the same name, paid various benefits to his employees (for example, for work ability) at the beginning of the last century. William Lever, the founder of the now world-famous Unilever company, did the same.

Entrepreneurs who were involved charitable activities, actually became the founders of the idea of ​​individual charity and business responsibility.