This mini case sets up a debate about capitalism. Milton Friedman, in 1970, shared his view of the social responsibility of business to be increase its profits. This contrasts with Blackrock’s Larry Fink, who in 2018, 2019, and 2020 announced the era of purposeful capitalism.
The case gets participants to think about stakeholder capitalism to meet societal demands. The key question posed at the end of the case is if there was a debate Fink meets Friedman, who has got it right for the future?
Learning Objective
This case is part of a mini-series focused on business and society that challenges participants to consider the lessons of various events and examples and how they can apply the learning to their own context. In this case the learning objectives are:
- Considering whether capitalism has evolved.
- Understanding capitalism from different perspectives across 50 years.
