Corporations Acting As Individuals And Their Impact On Society

When developing this thesis the main goal was to see how corporations impact society through new legislations giving them the right to act as individuals or humans. Gradually examining the impact on humans through CSR with analysis on how the implementation of CSR affects the performance of the business. A more theoretical approach is taken since Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Personhood are hard to classify since interpretation is dependent on individuals and cultures implemented within. The approach taken was to examine two cases including Enron and British Petroleum and see how their social practices affected society and the environment in general. Also the examination of research done from others was analyzed in order to find whether there was a correlation between CSR and the performance of the firm. The results concluded that there is a positive correlation between corporations implementing CSR initiatives and the overall performance of the business. It is also seen that businesses implement CSR to offset negative impacts. This supports the outcome of Enron and British Petroleum that if CSR would have been implemented correctly there is a great chance of success for the future. In overview it shows that for a corporation to improve it is success and become more competitive within the industry it is best to implement CSR tools in the correct way to create a competitive advantage. Reinforcing that being transparent and true will help the business succeed.