Pioneers in the corporate social responsibility movement may win plaudits for trying to serve the public good—but without due caution, they can just as easily find that no good deed goes unpunished.
Take Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender or national origin. Most U.S. corporations weave the law’s tenets into their legally required Codes of Conduct, and quite a few extend the bar on discrimination to sexual orientation. In Western eyes, such practices are laudable.
