Corporate Liability : Should Corporate Social Responsibility Be Enriched Essay

Businesses, specifically larger corporations, play a major role in what occurs in society therefore, they are responsible to their stakeholders not only to pursue economic goals but the greater social good as well. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means that a corporation should act in a way that enhances society and its inhabitants and be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment. (Lawrence, 2010). Social responsibility is becoming the norm so much so that some businesses have incorporated it into their business model. There are three components of the bottom line of social

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.

Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) has been viewed in different ways by different school of thoughts; some see it has a voluntary initiative, while others think it’s a main part of every company’s structure and even an opportunity to improve brand. For this work, we would take the position of the later argument. It is simply giving back to the environment that you gain from. It involves protection of the environment, development of quality of the occupants of the environment and improving their quality of life. Like Barnard (1938), it is analyzing the social, economic, moral, legal and physical aspects of the environment.

In a contemporary world, a business-society relationship has evolved well beyond a simple business model to a much broader - socially responsible - corporate stewardship. As of this result, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) emerged as a concept that encourages companies to be ethical and responsible with the environment it operates in so as to wider impact on society. Though, CSR is now argued so widely as to have become a subject matter for serious arguments. Whereas business‘s human side stressed the importance of social responsibility, it also opened the room for criticism for its opponents, some of who have expressed legit business concerns; others endorse the belief that

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the pledge a business makes where it promises to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of workforce and their family as well as the local community (Pride, Hughes, Kapoor 42). This practice helps to form or improve the positive image of the company. Businesses that follow the socially responsible model consider the impact of the company’s actions on society. This also includes promoting and supporting local, national and global causes, which is a part of CSR called corporate philanthropy, where businesses donate some of their profits or resources to charities (Taylor). Companies that show social responsibility this way must be devoted to doing so on a regular basis, because if don’t follow through with it, your organization may be viewed by the public as dishonest. Many critics of CSR believe that this model reduces the main goal of business, restricts the free market goal of maximizing profit, and also limits the ability to compete in a global marketplace (Pride, Hughes, Kapoor 47). Though critics may believe they are right, CSR gives companies a chance to address social issues caused by business’ and other factors and allows them to be a part

Archie Carroll defines corporate social responsibility (CSR) as “the social responsibility of business encompassing the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of these organizations at a given point in time.” (Crane, 5) Interesting enough, there has been an abrupt growth of firm’s engagement in CSR within all industries. This is the result of growing requests from the civil society demanding firms, of all sizes, to legitimize their practices. (Crane, 4)

Blowfield, M. and Murray, A. (2011) ‘Introducing corporate responsibility’, (2nd edition) corporate responsibility. Oxford: Oxford university press, pp.3-25

Controversy exists as to whether companies have a duty to recognize and fulfill their corporate social responsibility (CSR), or whether it is sufficient for them to discharge their business functions while complying with the law. The opponents of CSR argue that managers are custodians of shareholders' wealth and should only engage in business functions that they are qualified in, leaving social functions to be performed by the government. However, CSR has now become a strategic part of business activity because it enables companies to gain legitimacy and approval of the community to ensure their survival, while contributing towards profitability.

As is the case with most anything of any interest, the deeper you look into Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) the more difficult it is to define. And as long as it remains difficult to define, it will be difficult to communicate and enforce. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that one is faced with a series of questions related to corporate social responsibility, human rights and the law along a parallel path of considering the importance of profits, business innovation and market share.

The notion of Corporate Social Responsibility is a phenomenon globally known for many years. In spite of the fact that CSR has been neglected for quite a long time, nowadays several authors deal with this issue, as revealed by the development of theories in recent years concerning the topic. In spite of the fact that there has been a huge growth of literature it is still impossible to simply define CSR. Many definitions trying to capture the concept of CSR exist, but their content varies (Matten & Moon, 2008).

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined by Carroll as being split into four possibilities,”it is economically profitable, law abiding, ethical and Philanthropic” (Visser. W, 2005). Economic responsibilities is defined as being for profit purposes, managers focus is purely on the outcome of the business and the shareholders, there is

Before we can fully understand Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting (CSR) and its key aspects, we need to first understand the inherent limitations of annual reports provided by many of the globally listed companies. Everything that we have analysed in the prior week’s regarding IFRS accounting policies, practices and regulations plays a role in the lack of CSR practices of firms. This is because IFRS accounting policies and regulation only represents a very limited financial or economic view of the operations of these listed companies. There seems to be no accountability for the impact that these globally listed corporations have on the environment or on society. Therefore, these listed companies only focus on one bottom line in their annual reports, a bottom line that is based on financial profit only. There also does not seem to be any mandatory IFRS standards in place to require companies to set aside profits that should be used to repair the negative impacts on the environment, employee rights and conditions that are consequences of their actions (Taylor, 2016c).

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become imperative on business convention nowadays. “Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large” (Holme and Watts, 2000). 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 and social aims due to the growing societal attention in CSR. This essay will compare and contrast arguments in favour of and against CSR from the perspective of firms.

‘Corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) means that the firm has wider responsibilities in relation to objectives and people apart from the owners or shareholders (Beal and Goyen 2005). These responsibilities are achieved when the firm adapts all of its practices to ensure that it operates in ways that meet, or exceed, the ethical, legal, commercial and public expectations that society has of business. Objectives often associated with CSR include a responsibility to manage natural assets sustainably and not to pollute by chemical discharge, smell, noise, dust or other irritants; fair treatment of employees and ethical attitude towards clients. The other people include employees, customers, suppliers,