Tradition v. Modern

When you talk to a person of the newer generations and ask them what they think when they hear the term “traditional”, the images of days before computers, cell phones, and $2.00 an hour minimum wage instantly appears in their minds. When it comes to corporate social responsibility and the traditional model, it is also a practice that is not necessarily practiced anymore. Traditionally, corporate social responsibility meant that things said or done by the business were taken at their word, and trusted without fail. Over the years, however, it is evident that this type of business practice is not only flawed, but outdated.

This way of business operation is different than what Entine and Jennings proposed when they developed eight questions about any and every company that may produce suspicion or a company one simply knows little about and would like to learn more about:

    Does the company comply with the law?
    Does the company have a sense of propriety?
    How honestly do product claims match with reality?
    How forthcoming is the company with information?
    How does the company treat its employees?
    How does the company handle third-party ethics issues?
    How charitable is the company?
    How does the company react when faced with negative disclosures?

The purpose of these questions is to acquire an in depth look into companies regardless of propaganda, television ads, newspaper articles, and any other source of information which could be bias if the questions are answered properly. These eight questions give you specific information about the legal practices of a business, whether a business is honest, good to employees, charitable, and how they deal with undesirable press and how cooperative they are with that information.

“No company is ethically perfect. No company, just as no individual, is without sin or exempt from mistakes.” (Jennings, 2012) The beauty of Entine and Jennings’ model is that no one wants to enter into a business deal verbally or based on a simple word anymore, and this models allows for businesses to learn a lot about one another with minimal room for a catastrophe or bad business dealing.