November 9, 2012 - The Business Administration department in collaboration with the Ashesi Student Council organized a debate between the two cohorts for the 2012/2013 Competitive Strategy class dubbed “The Great Debate”. The debate, sponsored by Vodafone Ghana, was on the motion: “The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of Business is to increase its Profits”, an idea proposed by Milton Friedman.
Naa Ayeleysa Quaynor Mettle ‘13, Nii Okai Nunoo ‘13 and Godfrey Jojo Ainooson ’13 represented cohort A, and argued against the motion; cohort B stood for the motion and was represented by Ahmed Edusei ‘13, Ephraim Acquah ‘13 and Chandni Khubchandani ‘13.
The debate teams, making strong cases for their positions, engaged key topics around CSR, including the differences in creating value and making profits, and how a company can be socially responsible simply by being ethical in its work. After an intense exchange of ideas, Cohort B won the debate, and the representatives received books on business strategy, and MiFi devices from Vodafone Ghana.
Carmen Bruce-Annan, Head of Corporate Communications at Vodafone Ghana, guest speaker and one of three judges at the debate, spoke on the importance of CSR and the value it creates for businesses. Carmen gave examples of CSR projects that Vodafone had taken on, including the award-winning Vodafone Health Line TV show, and commended students for engaging the subject in the debate.
Other judges included Byron Nana Taylor, the CEO of the CSR Foundation Ghana and Mary Grace Neville, an Associate Professor and Fulbright Scholar at Ashesi.
“The debate about social responsibility of businesses is an unending search for ideas to make businesses beneficial to not only investors, but also the environments in which they work,” said Anthony Spio, head of the Business Department at Ashesi. “The debate participants have made great contributions to the discourse on corporate social responsibility and the role of business in society.”