9. The Posture of Services

Much of the inquiry into the responsibilities of an organization—whether from a religious perspective, for example, Christian Social Doctrine (CSR is commonly understood to include not only all forms of business organizations, e.g., partnerships, sole proprietorships, as well as corporations, but also not-for-profit organizations. In this chapter we will be using the terms corporation, firm, or business with the understanding that they may have a broader connotation), or from a secular perspective, the corporate social responsibility field—has been focused on the employees of the organization, to a lesser extent that inquiry focuses on the organization’s responsibilities for environmental issues, usually emphasizing sustainability. Yet an argument can be advanced that the central purpose of any business is to exchange something—goods, services, or ideas—with a group of “customers.” If so, then any comprehensive inquiry into the responsibilities of businesses must include a systematic look at those goods, services, and ideas and also on the processes and policies through which the company markets them. This, then, is the rationale for the title and substance of this chapter.