A Competitive Business Environment, Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporations are encouraged to conduct their activities in an ethically responsible manner, however neither the corporate world nor academia has produced a single – all encompassing definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The basic problem is that there are too many self-serving definitions that often lean toward the specific interests of the entities involved (Van Marrewijk, 2003). There has even been a quantitative study conducted on the many definitions of the term (Dahlsrud, 2006).

In recent years, increasing number of customers and businessmen start to concern about the ethical issues in businesses. Although the main purpose of business is to make profits, the social influence of it also appears to be focused by a large proportion of customers and businessmen. Corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is closely connected with this concentration, was put forward in 1953 with the meaning of interacting social, environmental, and economic considerations into the decision-making structures and processes of business (Industry Canada, 2013). Although criticized, there is a business case for CSR because it could enhance customers’ loyalty, improve

The purpose of this essay is to research the notion of CSR and uncover its true framework and outline what social responsibility truly means to corporate organisations, and whether it should be seriously considered to be a legitimate addition to the corporate framework of an organisation.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is something that affects all companies and should be an active factor in the company’s decision making. It is something all corporations need to care about. CSR is when business’ or corporations take part in an initiative or campaign for a cause that will benefit society and/or in some way make the world a better place (Taylor, 2015). Initially, Corporate Social Responsibility started to take shape around the 1950’s, but some say that it dates all the way back to the 1800s, the idea of CSR was seen (Carroll, 2007). One may think that because it is dated so long ago, it doesn’t have an important impact today nevertheless, it is proven that Corporate Social Responsibility is a pathway for entities to self benefit as they are in the process of benefitting society.

Drawing from these debates, Archie Carroll has developed “the Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility”, one of the most significant concepts of CSR. There are four kinds of social responsibilities that contribute total CSR, he suggested, Economic, Legal, Ethical, and Philanthropic (1991). Therefore being socially responsible does not mean forgetting the fundamental aspect of business, to make profit. The obligation of Law restricts business activities and they are the rules of the game which businesses have to obey. Being ethical is to perform actions that are fair, morally good, and of stakeholders’ interests, even outside the boundary of law. Considering corporate citizenship, philanthropic responsibilities are responses to the rising society’s expectations to business (Carroll, 1991). The notion of discretionary and voluntary distinguishes philanthropic responsibilities to ethical responsibilities. A good CSR firm should “strive to make a profit, obey the law, be ethical, and be a good corporate citizen” (Carroll, 1991, p.43) and without simultaneous fulfillment of the four responsibilities, the business should not be characterized as operating within CSR.

Current approaches to CSR are fragmented and/or disconnected from business goals. Many firms still consider CSR as another generic public relations problem in which media campaigns and CSR reports are used to paint the company as a positive ethical, social and or environmental advocator and supporter. For example, the annual reports discuss a firm’s sensitivities to CSR issues, but completely lack the entire story and offer no further forward commitments from the firm. Further, the ratings and rankings measurements are self-appointed by the firm, not always accurate to validate the work and direct impact to what they are measuring, and the criteria base varies widely and weighed differently in the final scoring. Worst of all the data lacks impartial auditors for validating the data to ensure the ratings have been accurately met, and data is statistically significant and a good proxy for what it is supposed to reflect. This has resulted in reactive initiatives designed to appease vocal

Businesses and big corporations face issues regarding their business ethical practices that may arise as potential problems. These practices could impact governments, the outside environment and society as a whole, if those said practices use exploitation and is harmful to its external environment. Because of this major issue, corporations are left with the decision to change the way they operate by applying a code of conduct that would improve their ethical practices suited for the needs of society. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the practice with which a corporation is essentially responsible for their misconduct, and will not only focus on making profits but provide a goodwill to society. CSR is an important implementation for corporations as it is beneficial to the business itself, as well as for its shareholders. With that being said, it also has its disadvantages. This essay will discuss the importance of CSR in the world of business, furthermore it will explain the principles of CSR, and then it will discuss the advantages and disadvantages it has for corporations.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept which is also known as corporate citizenship, corporate conscience or in a simple way a responsible business. It is an integrated concept of self-regulatory business model for any organisation. Corporate Social Responsibility has been in practice for more than fifty years now, which has been adopted not only by domestic companies but also by transnational company with voluntary CSR initiatives (Chernev and Blair, 2015). It includes Corporate Social Responsibility for code of conduct, organisational health and environment, companies reporting on social, financial and environmental aspects, partnership with agencies, NGO’s and UN agencies etc. and increase its focus on community development program (Sun, Stewart and Pollard, 2010).

First of all, the company will establish a better reputation that is essential in order to access financial recourses and to get permit by government (Hamman, 2003, p23). A positive relationship between Corporate Responsibility index and corporate reputation is illustrated by Lewellyn (2005). In addition, the high reputation of organization will attract highly qualified skilled employee to work for the company (Hamman, 2003). Moreover, according to the result of CSR Europe’s 2000 study of consumer attitudes toward CSR in 12 countries, Grills &Spring (2001) confirm that one fifth of consumers prefer to but products which are responsible for socially and environmentally. Secondly, successful use of CSR can result in long-term stability (Lewellyn, 2005). According to Lewellyn’s (2005) opinion, companies that have a visible approach to corporate responsibility are

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become imperative on business convention nowadays. CSR can be defined as the way that firms manage the business processes to generate a positive influence on society (Baker, 2004). The term CSR was appeared in the 1950s, but until 1989, Ben and Jerry’s was the first company which truly publish a social responsibility report (Coles, 2012). In recent years, numerous organizations evaluate firms on their CSR performance since the society is concerned about the CSR ranking. Consequently, business managers in various countries may treat CSR as an inevitable priority (Porter & Kramer, 2006). Nevertheless, CSR is still a controversial issue in the world. Some businesses are struggling to balance corporate

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) an essentially American phenomenon has over the years become a major concern in Western Europe and in other countries of the world aiming to follow in the western model of development.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a concept that has been around for well over 50 years, has become prominent again recently. Peter Utting (2005) notes that an increasing number of transnational corporations (TNCs) and large domestic companies, supported by business and industry associations, are adopting a variety of so-called voluntary CSR initiatives that incorporate, for example, ‘codes of conduct; measures to improve environmental management systems and occupational health and safety; company ‘triple bottom line’ reporting on financial, social, and environmental aspects; participation in certification and labeling schemes; dialogue with stakeholders and partnerships with NGOs and UN agencies; and increased support for community development projects and programes’. The revival of CSR is reflected also in its recent prominence in public debate. CSR has also generated a very extensive literature in recent times. For example, a search on Google Scholar for the phrase ‘corporate social responsibility’ produced 12,500 citations. A more general search of the internet on Google for the phrase ‘corporate social responsibility’ produced 12,900,000 results. A general search for the phrase ‘corporate social responsibility’ on Australian sites produced 97,800 hits. This research paper is a conceptual paper regarding CSR consists the introduction, historical background of CSR, arguments

Long before H.R Bowen, in his book ‘Social Responsibilities of the Businessman’ propounded Corporate Social Responsibility as a desirable directive for prosperous companies; it has been long practised as a mode of charity and philanthropy as advocated by various religious and family values. The concept of CSR since then have been intricately connected with the values of good governance which aims to usher a socially inclusive positive society which focuses on addressing cultural impediments, social issues and environmental sustainability. As proposed by the United Nations Environment Programme, companies should be ethically responsible and should strive

The (Commission, 2015) defines CSR as “companies taking responsibility for their impact on society”. It adds that CSR should be initiated by companies, with public authorities playing a supporting role through policy and regulation. Companies the commission would consider as socially responsible would have to comply with the law, integrate social, environmental, ethical, consumer and human rights concerns into their business and strategy operations. This recent definition of CSR covers most if not all of the angles of the different definitions and models of CSR put forth by writers in the CSR space. However as written by many authors, this is a dynamic field that continues to evolve (Carroll and Shabana, 2010, Geva, 2008, Carroll, 1999, Lee, 2008, Pirnea et al., 2011, Waddock, 2008). According to (Spector, 2008) its roots can be traced to the pre- World War II era (early years of the cold war), but for the sake of this paper we shall not go that far back. We

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization(UNIDO) defines ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’(CSR) as “a management concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and interactions with their stakeholders”. The term is explained through a “Triple-Bottom-Line Approach” as being the way through which a company achieves a balance of economic, environmental and social imperatives (“Triple-Bottom-Line”) while at the same time addressing the expectations of shareholders and stakeholders (Elkington, 1997). This approach assumes a very significant light in today’s dynamic world where every aspect of life is inter-connected in a very mysterious fabric, where the alteration of one can affect the others in ways beyond comprehension. Corporate Social Responsibility, both as a term and concept, started becoming popular in the 1960s, when industrialization which sprouted in the Industrial Revolution was fixating its roots all across the world. Industrialization can be defined as the “period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one”. Just like the correlation and dependence of the various aspects of life with each other, it is seen that CSR and Industrialization shared their space of mutual effects as well.