Corporate Social Responsibility: Should we, or should we not.
Corporate Social Responsibility (C.S.R.) is a theory practiced in the business sphere since fifty years. It refers to the duty of business organizations to adopt certain activities that will benefit the society in some way. Charity, health-awareness campaigns are few examples that a business undertakes to fulfil its objectives of C.S.R. According to this ideal, it is important for various corporations today to undertake such social activities, apart from merely focusing on their objective of profit maximization. But, is it an obligation that is most important than other objectives of business? This thought further leads us to another significant question – In contemporary settings, should corporations be guided by the concept of C.S.R.?
“Businesses are owned by their shareholders - money spent on CSR by managers is theft of the rightful property of the owners-This is the voice of the laisser-faire 1980s, still being given powerful voice by advocates such as Elaine Sternberg. Sternberg argues that there is a human rights case against CSR, which is that a stakeholder approach to management deprives shareholders of their property rights.” (mallenbaker.net). This is one of the opinions which is against the concept of CSR which blames this theory for violating human rights of shareholders. Moreover, Lantos (2001), in the article ‘The boundaries of strategic corporate social responsibility’, while in agreement with the
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 incorporates environmental, social, and economic dimensions that provide leadership and differentiation opportunities for perceptive organizations. However,
Corporate social responsibility may also be referred to as "corporate citizenship" and can involve spending finances that do not directly benefit the company but rather advocate positive social and environmental change. The soul in the next economy forum presentation made it evident that achieving corporate social responsibly in a company can reap major benefits in terms of finances, more inspiring workplace and customer satisfaction.
Corporate Social Responsibility is essentially the idea that corporations should and have the responsibility to act outside of their own interest of profits and interest of shareholders. That a majority of the responsibility to fix economic, environmental, and social issues somehow weighs more heavily on corporations shoulders than our own. I am not in favor of this notion for several reasons to which I will argue. The definition and idea of CSR sets up more unanswered flaws and questions than it supposedly answers. It becomes a masquerade that highly profitable businesses can hide behind to gain customer loyalty and favor in the eyes of society,
Social responsibility is an idea that has been of concern to mankind for many years. Over the last two decades, however, it has become of increasing concern to the business world. This has resulted in growing interaction between governments, businesses and society as a whole. In the past, businesses primarily concerned themselves with the economic results of their decisions. “Today, however, businesses must also reflect on the legal, ethical, moral and social consequences of their decisions” (Anderson 15). This paper will discuss the concept of corporate social responsibility. It will give the definition of the phrase, and identify some of the global factors that necessitate corporate social responsibility. It will discuss the importance of corporations setting up corporate social responsibility projects, and the impact these have on society. Social corporate responsibility and the maintenance of high ethical standards is not an option but an obligation for all business.
ABSTRACT. The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) field presents not only a landscape of theories but also a proliferation of approaches, which are controversial, complex and unclear. This article tries to clarify the situation, ‘‘mapping the territory’’ by classifying the main CSR theories and related approaches in four groups: (1) instrumental theories, in which the corporation is seen as only an instrument for wealth creation, and its social activities are only a means to achieve economic results; (2) political theories, which concern themselves with the power of corporations in society and a responsible use of this power in the
On very common situations of the foundries outsourcing companies, does not mean can be ignore the production process management, especially in the growing environmental awareness of human rights and labor hypertonic, consumers are also concerned about purchase the product is how are they manufactured and process. This has been deemed an important indicator of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics. The ethics of corporate social responsibility disclosure have historically been some of the most difficult to reconcile with earnings expectations and activist demands (Browne and Haas, 1974; Filios, 1984, 1986; Gelb and Strawser, 2001; Robertson and Nicholson, 1996).
Practices of Leadership contributed to Managing Sustainability: Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility in the post-bureaucratic era.
“According to Carroll (1983), “corporate social responsibility involves the conduct of business so that it is economically profitable, law abiding, ethical and socially supportive. To be socially responsible then means that profitability and obedience to the law are foremost conditions when discussing the firm’s ethics and the extent to which it supports the society in which it exists with contributions of money, time and talent (p.608).”
ITC Ltd has worked exremly hard to start several procedures that have led to compliance of the standards of social responsibility. ITC’s dealings within the tobacco industry have contributed to the increase in company revenues and the company has worked towards following the triple bottom line and giving back to society. Most, businesses pay little attention to their social responsibilities and make it part of their overall strategy, instead they concentrate more on financial benefits from the sales of products. Consequently, managing business in a socially responsive manner contributes to the best combination of business success and societal acceptance, trust and loyalty. Giving back to the community in ways that benefits only society such as planting trees to curb pollution and help the environment or using biodegradable materials in packaging can reap financial benefits to a company by building loyalty among the community. The notion of business ethics and corporate social responsibility is becoming a defining concept in all industries worldwide. ITC believes in the Triple Bottom Line philosophy where the performance and perception of a corporation should not be judged only on the basis of its financial statements or revenues, but its environmental and social performance as well. ITC is one of the only companies in the world to be carbon positive, water positive, and conduct solid waste recycling. ITC provides water to areas where water is very
The aim of this paper is to explore Corporate Social Responsibility in the framework of business ethics. Companies, in this modern day and age, are urged to show more responsibility towards society while operation their businesses. According to Milton Friedman, “there is one and only one social responsibility of business: to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and
Social responsibility is an idea that has been of concern to mankind for many years. Over the last two decades, however, it has become of increasing concern to the business world. This has resulted in growing interaction between governments, businesses and society as a whole. In the past, businesses primarily concerned themselves with the economic results of their decisions. Today, however, businesses must also reflect on the legal, ethical, moral and social consequences of their decisions. This paper will discuss the concept of corporate social responsibility. It will give the definition of the phrase, and identify some of the global factors that necessitate corporate social responsibility. It will discuss the importance of corporations setting up corporate social responsibility projects, and the impact these have on society, it will also highlight a business for its outstanding work when it comes it SCR. Social corporate responsibility and the maintenance of high ethical standards is not an option but an obligation for all business.
For the past years, corporate social responsibility also referred, as corporate conscience has been a respected subject for discussion. Corporate social responsibility, unquestionably, contains more viewpoint than simply worried about the ecological impacts of associations. It came in people groups mind at the later 1880, time of essential modern advancement that associations ought to think about the thought of social obligation. Associations that are near to social obligation issues got to be worry about the principled ground of attaining to social commitment. Latter 1880 manifestation of the accountability for society has got soundness however after that period the association started to include in humanitarian force strongly (Adamsson and Johansson 2008). This study hopes to explore the corporate social responsibility and furthermore how and why affiliation its participate in corporate social responsibility. A number of multinational firms offering essentialness to the social and business substance that can give an organization a humane face and eventually it will bring notoriety and moment business advantage as individuals get to be unwavering to this. Thus, this is the reason organizations are taking CSR issue as an unquestionable requirement for getting an additional profit on present exceptionally aggressive world and along these lines happily keeping their buyer group protected from other rivalry.
“Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) 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) p.8). For many years business have cared solely on money however in recent years businesses have started to take interest in CSR and helping society welfare. This paper will discuss if Corporate Social Responsibility is likely to become a game changer in the near future.
The classic origin of the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) came from the principle that the purpose of the corporation is to make profits for the stockholders. This view of Milton Friedman came to be referred to later as the classical theory of CSR (Bowie, 1991). Tom Donaldson argued that this theory derived from the concept of the social contract between the corporation and the society where it operates. This perspective, however, faced criticism over its inherently opportunistic and exploitative viewpoint. A corporate vision aimed only at upholding the shareholder’s right to profit for their investment logically will have to qualm of exploiting stakeholders to serve the end game of profit. It will have no qualms at paying