The implications of this report for the fundamentals of capitalism include equality of opportunity, profits, work ethic, consumer sovereignty, the role of government and conscious capitalism. First of all, the equality of opportunity is the assumption that all individuals or groups have an even chance at responding to some condition in society. Obviously, it is difficult to achieve in capitalistic system because corporations only focus on the profits. The corporations only created wealth, but can not distribute equally. For example, the coca-cola emphasized using natural resources responsibly, but they are accused of depleting the water supply in local communities. It also related to work ethic because profits viewed with disdain or as immoral. The conscious capitalism is a good reference standard to test a company because it mainly focuses on ethics of business and higher standards of corporate behavior. For example, British American Tobacco claims to be upholding high standards of employee health and safety, but contract farmers suffer from chronic ill health related to growing tobacco in Kenya and Brazil. British American Tobacco did not only a single focus on profits, but also should paid more attention on the interests of employees. The culture of business must embody values, principles and practices incorporating social responsibilities. Furthermore, trust is important in all relationships, including business and society. For instance, Shell in Nigeria promised to be a better corporate citizen, but fail to clean up oil spills and runs community development projects ineffectively. Obviously, they lost trust with internal stakeholders such as employees and lenders and with external stakeholders such as consumers, governments, and non-governmental organizations.
2. Should government regulate the CSR reporting of corporations?
Government should regulate the CSR reporting of corporations because the NGO do not trust corporations anymore and want governments to be responsible for the ethical operations of corporations. The government extensively involved in the