MISGUIDED CORPORATE VIRTUE: THE CASE AGAINST CSR,AND THE TRUE ROLE OF BUSINESS TODAY1

The doctrine of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has now been accepted across the world – not only by businesses and business organisations, together with an array of commentators and NGOs, but also by many governments. This is a worrying development. The doctrine rests on mistaken presumptions about recent economic developments and their implications for the role and conduct of enterprises, while putting it into effect would make the world poorer and more over‐regulated.