Embraced means in the line "embraced corporate responsibility" means highly admire corporate responsibility. because this sentence is followed by the sentence accepted the ethical critique. So, accepted means also adopted.
The context is all about economics ethics Ethics can only exist when all law is fulfilled. The law permits economic competition but at what point does it breach a higher law form? When do we begin to compete with one another even for basic needs? If the law states we have a right to life and limb then it seems to make a mockery of this the moment we accept it as legitimate to compete over the very resources which are necessary for anyone to exercise this right.