Corporate Social Responsibility Paper

THE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) MOVEMENT has grown in recent years from a fringe activity by a few earnest companies, like The Body Shop, and Ben & Jerry’s, to a highly visible priority for

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 scale and nature of the benefits of CSR for an organization can vary depending on the nature of the enterprise, and are difficult to quantify, though there is a large body of literature exhorting business to

CSR is all about businesses understanding the effects that they have on the community/wider world. Businesses will use this impact in a positive way to

• Companies do not pay the full costs of their impact. For example the costs of cleaning pollution often fall on society in general. As a result profits of corporations are enhanced at the expense of social or ecological welfare.

4. “CSR is only relevant for large private sector companies.” Critically discuss providing examples from SMEs, the public and civil sectors.

Based on my interpretation of CSR, I see it as a voluntary obligation that companies have promised to their stakeholders to fulfill by improving, or at least not harm, the environmental and social wellbeing. When companies engage in CSR, they voluntarily promise to, for example, carry the responsibility to protect the environment and take actions against bribe or other corruptive activities related to their business. It certainly has some positive influences to specific areas based on my knowledge gained from other classes; nevertheless, when judge CSR in the context of total impacts on our society and environment, it is obvious that CSR has failed its mission to lessen the negative impacts of business based on the evidences that provided by the author. Also, since there is a strong positive relationship between CSR behaviors and consumers’ reactions to a firm’s products and services, it seems to me, now, that CSR for the most companies is just a fancy cover that helps them to create or promote a good image and reputation. The recent case that shows the failure of CSR of Volkswagen even make me believe that CSR programs may be just a marketing or public relation exercise for many

Business and society are interdependent. The wellbeing of one depends on the wellbeing on the other. Companies engaged in CSR are reporting benefits to their reputation and their bottom line.

In this article, “The Truth About CSR,” authors Rangan, Chase and Karim stress the importance in aligning a company’s social and environmental activities with its business purpose and values (Rangan, Chase, & Karim, 2015, 41). Outcomes of CSR programs should be a “spillover” and not a primary focus of a business, expressing concern towards social responsibility and corporations failing to contribute to society accordingly (Rangan, Chase, Karim, 2015, 42). There is a great deal of importance in companies refocusing their CSR activities on a primary goal and in providing an organized process for bringing consistency and discipline to CSR strategies (42). Rangan, Chase and Karim want corporations to understand why it is important for them to evaluate their CSR activities and refocus them towards the goal of reinforcing the firm’s societal and environmental actions, while also ensuring their actions add to the overall purpose and values of the corporation. According to the authors, even though

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.

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

CSR is about how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society.

It is not the financial gain that rates the business success rather; it is the impact they leave on society. Implementing CSR is one of the most debated topics in the business world. Because there is no written or documented law in the business industry that states the need of CSR within the business structure, CSR is not an official requirement that must be attended. Yet, CSR practices are key to growth in the industry. Still, some businesses are not aware of the responsibility they have. As a result, the text I chose addresses the shortage of CSR practices. Hundreds of attempts were and are still being made to recover from the impacts of ignoring CSR. One attempt that the text makes is emphasizing the idea of starting simple and local changes to reach global sustainability. There are three interconnected parts of society where CSR is expected to be implemented. These parts are community involvement, environmental sustainability and ethical marketing. It is easy to notice how every person in a society is involved and holds a specific role in these parts. Community involvement means giving back to the community and its people, like building schools, charitable donations and supporting local issues. Environmental sustainability is about making the earth

Although participation in CSR activities is voluntary there is movement within many industries and perhaps in society in general, to make the possession of a meaningful CSR policy a pre-requisite for any company or business.

It evaluates value creation in terms of environmental, social and economic performance. Hence, businesses have to succeed economically, as well as stressing concern for social justice and environmental quality. However, an issue with defining CSR is not only concerned with its miscellaneous attributes but also its heterogeneous body of research. Most research conducted is concerned with CSR from a perspective of theoretical articles and quantitative research. Defining CSR and quantifying its value through the use of statistics can be an ambiguous task, which thus; presents the opportunity to greater understand CSR through a qualitative approach.