Business Law
The article, “Financial Performance, Pollution Measures, and the Propensity to Use Corporate Responsibility Reporting: Implications for Business and Legal Scholarship” is about the growth in the practice of voluntary CR reporting hints that companies see real value in at least looking like they are keeping up with the trend of being more transparent than what is mandated. This is supported by the triennial KPMG survey of CR reporting, which shows that executives at companies that manipulate CR reporting see economic motivation in doing this practice. Firms may be engaging in CR reporting due to customer demands, as evidence shows that early adopters of CR reporting tended to be pollution industries. Small and large companies have found that CR reporting can boost profitability by encouraging corporations to make socially and environmentally conscious investments that quickly pay for themselves and reduce costs. Studies show companies tend to ignore SEC reporting guidance on environmental regulations. The SEC has not done anything to investigate or penalize the failures to disclose large environmental liabilities. Voluntary CR reporting is done to increase companies’ profitability and brand reputation, with mostly pollution companies doing so to meet demand from the customers and investors. CR reporting is partially unethical because they are voluntarily reporting to benefit themselves and their companies while providing potentially false information to customers and investors, which will in turn cause these pollution companies to produce more and in the end hurt us and our planet. This article, like many of the others, deal primarily with companies that are working in their own self-interest to benefit themselves no matter what the ethical outcome. This article could affect our future as if these falsely claimed reports continue the economy and these industries could ruin the resources in the world with their pollution habits and have a negative...