Essay on Assignment: Corporation and James Hardie

Australian School of Business
School of Taxation and Business Law

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First Name: _______Kangyi_______ Last Name: _______Zhao_______
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Student Number: _______z3455041_______ Word Count: ______2153___________

Official E-Mail Address: _______z3455041@zmail.unsw.edu.au_______

Subject: TABL 5541 Corporations and Business Associations Law

Due Date: Monday 28 April 10.00pm via Turnitin on Moodle

Date Submitted: ___________28 April _____________

Lecturer’s Name and Class: ____Kayleen Manwaring____Thu 2-5pm_____

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Acknowledgement: I declare that this assessment item is my own work, except where acknowledged, and has not been submitted for academic credit elsewhere, and acknowledge that the assessor of this item may, for the purpose of assessing this item:
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Signature:_______Kangyi Zhao_________________________________

Date:___28 April 2014____________

Briefing Paper: Corporate Social Responsibility

Abbreviations
ABSBR
Australian Bureau of Statistics Business Register
APRA
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
ASIC
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
ASX
Australia Stock Exchange
CAMAC
Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee
CCI
Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Western Australia
GRI
Global Reporting Initiative

1 Introduction
This purpose of this briefing paper is to make submissions to government on the current and future state of the law on corporate governance, in the area of corporate social responsibility. The paper is divided into four parts, besides Background and Conclusion; the two main parts are case study on James Hardie and recommendations on how the law should be changed.
2 Background
The issue whether proper purpose of the public corporation is only to profit the shareholders1 or it also covers corporate social responsibility2 was raised by a debate between Berle and Dodd in 1932. Corporate social responsibility has become a more and more vital topic in Australia after the exposure of James Hardie case in the early 2001.
Based on different definitions of corporate social responsibility 3, I make my conclusion that corporate social responsibility is a series of ethical commitments done voluntarily by business entities to improve their relationship with the community and environmental society at large.
3 James Hardie case: an example of the impact of lack of regulation of corporate social responsibility on Australian corporate culture and Australian society
James Hardie case is the most important and famous case that brings corporate social responsibility into the light. James Hardie Industry Ltd. was the largest manufacturer of asbestos products in Australia and “its initial reluctance to admit liability and its efforts to hide its assets from compensation claims brought it into the public spotlight.”4 It makes stakeholders as well as the media and society aware of magnitude of corporate social responsibility.
3.1 Pitfall caused by share primacy
It is share primacy that, to some extent, hinders external corporate governance.
In this case, it is obvious that corporate social responsibility has clashed with acting “in good faith in the best interests of the corporation”5, one of directors’ fiduciary duties. The attempt to escape from billions of compensation is widely regarded as

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