Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives For Small Firms Essay

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).

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a very controversial topic. A question that has been debated for the past few decades is; is it corporately viable to introduce social responsibility as a proposed addition to the work ethic of business organisations. As well as, if adopting the framework of corporate social responsibility would yield positive improvements for those organisations.

Social responsibility has been always a point of discussion for entrepreneurs, nevertheless, not till recently have there been debates on its importance. This paper will be discussing the effect of corporate social responsibility on the financial performance of a company. This report first addresses the methodology used in searching for relevant resources in the first section of the report, section two summarizes the research while critically analyzing the sources used to answer this paper and the final section will be the conclusion.

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 is described as being a company’s ethical, economic, environmental, social and legal attitude towards its stakeholders in order to establish long-term success (Crane at el, 2008). These issues have come to have an important role in the running of a business in recent years. CSR was developed over a number of years and has been researched by professional economists. There are many arguments in favour of and against the CSR strategy. A company that adopts and operates the CSR can gain control over a variety of sectors, including shareholders and stakeholders. In brief, businesses can generate maximum profit and reduce potential risk by adopting the CSR strategy

Stehr, C & Jakob, BE (2014) '‘Corporate Social Responsibility Through Voluntary Commitment in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises,’ European Journal of Sustainable Development, vol. 3(no. 4), pp. 135-150. [Accessed 30 July

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) originated in 19537 with the publication of Bowen’s book Social Responsibilities of Businessmen (Carrol, 1999). Some perceived that at that time, the emphasis is placed on business people’s social conscience, rather than on the company itself. Some argue that corporate entities do not have any social responsibility except the ones that were written in agreement with government while establishing corporate entities, whereas others justify that corporate entities do have social responsibility. The roots of critics of CSR are so old that it is a challenge to the neoclassical business model itself (Valor, 2005). According to Smith (2005), there

Corporate social responsibility spans across the globe, but different countries see and participate in CSR in different ways. Amerinda Forte, author of “Corporate Social Responsibility in the United States and Europe: How Important Is It? The Future of Corporate Social Responsibility,” an article published in 2013 in the International Business and Economics Research Journal, explains CSR using three traditional models: the shareholder value model where profits are the sole responsibilities of the business, the stakeholder model where the social responsibilities of the business reflect those of the stakeholders, and the business ethics model where businesses have social obligations and a moral duty to society as a business. The author

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in its most simple of terms is a vision. More specifically, it is a vision that in a way almost minimizes what may be better for a company’s shareholders and investors, and increases its focus on things including the environment, its employees, its role in benefiting the surrounding communities and society, and more importantly making sure that we can continue to grow, thrive, and be self-sustaining. In short, it is a business model that puts an emphasis on the future over its profits. CSR comes from an evolving view that current and future generations deem it unacceptable for businesses and corporations to conduct business under a blanket of secrecy. All the written, and unwritten laws concerning competition as well as sustainability are being rewritten.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to the obligation of organisations to behave in ethical and moral ways. It refers to the notion that corporations have a responsibility to the society that sustains them (Wood, et al. 2013).

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is about how businesses align their values and behavior with the expectations and needs of stakeholders - not just customers and investors, but also employees, suppliers, communities, regulators, special interest groups and society as a whole. CSR describes a company's commitment to be accountable to its stakeholders.

CSR stands for Corporate Social Responsibility and it is a concept with many definitions and practices and also a buzzword in the media. In general, corporate social responsibility is the policies and programs of business corporations which tend to benefit society while improving a corporation’s public image and profitability at the same time. The meaning of it is implemented in different countries and companies differently.

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There are several factors that determine that at the moment CSR is primarily relevant to large private sectors, according with our textbook, First, SMEs are informal in nature and this reason lack the need for bureaucratic systems and its structures due to the advantages of small size businesses. Second, large corporations, are often under the loop of the society and their actions are visible and vulnerable to criticism. And third, usually the small business are manger by the owner and for this reason, there is not obligation or direct pressure to serve the shareholders to maximize or return their investment at any cost.

‘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,