Question No. 1: What is Oxymoron?

Answer: Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect. The
common oxymoron phrase is a combination of an adjective proceeded by a noun with contrasting meanings.
Examples: open secret, love hate relationship, awfully pretty and seriously funny
Question No. 2: Why is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) classified as an oxymoron?
Aneel Karnani of the University of Michigan Business School wrote in the Wall Street Journal stated that
there are cases in which companies have done good things for society and the environment, including serving
healthier foods at fast-food restaurants and offering more fuel-efficient cars. However, he said that we have
to keep in mind that the pursuit of profits and delivering shareholder value are the core missions of the
executives in corporate boardrooms, not saving the world. Moreover, he said that in circumstances in which
profits and social welfare are in direct opposition, an appeal to corporate social responsibility will almost
always be ineffective, because executives are unlikely to act voluntarily in the public interest and against
shareholder interests. According to Karnani, there is the concept of fiduciary responsibility that eclipse
corporate social responsibility each and every time. The movement for corporate social responsibility is in
direct opposition, in such cases, to the movement for better corporate governance, which demands that
managers fulfill their fiduciary duty to act in the shareholders’ interest or be relieved of their responsibilities.
Thus, it is one of the reasons why so many companies talk a great deal about social responsibility but do
nothing—a tactic known as ‘greenwashing. Having said all of these, expecting companies to worship
exclusively at the altar of Corporate Social Responsibility in the face of a potential double dip recession where
mere survival maybe job no. 1 just simply doesn’t jive with reality.
At this point, it is important to say that there is a huge a difference between insincere opportunist
grandstanding when and where the need arises, and genuine social and environmental responsibility. Armed
with this desire to portray a genuine and natural corporate responsible attitude a modern business can make
advantage of what others look on as a duty rather than opportunity. It makes perfect business sense to always
improve and aspire to do better in areas of community support, corporate identity and culture.
It is important to remember that consumers are much wiser than previous generations armed with the
mountains of information on just about every product available and not just what materials are used, but
where they came from and how they were produced, shipped, and stored with added information on
environmental impact and worker conditions. Business which ignores this consumer awareness operate at
their own peril. Consumers are not fools and can ‘smell a rat’ so to speak when it comes to corporate greed
and ambivalence to some of these issues raised. The old profit maximization rule is slowly being swamped
by the ‘green tide’ of change that affects all levels of business and dictates that businesses adhere to
responsible policies and practices or incur the consumer backlash.