Corporate Social Responsibility: a Value Adding Business Function

The term ‘corporate social responsibility’ is still in popular use, even though competing, complementary and overlapping concepts such as corporate citizenship, business ethics, stakeholder management and sustainability are all vying to become the most accepted and widespread descriptor of the field. At the same time, the concept of corporate social performance (CSP) has become an established umbrella term which embraces both the descriptive and normative aspects of the field, as well as placing an emphasis on all that firms are achieving or accomplishing in the realm of social responsibility policies, practices and results. In the final analysis, however, all these concepts are related, in that they are integrated by key, underlying themes such as value, balance and accountability (Schwartz and Carroll 2008), and CSR remains a dominant, if not exclusive, term in the academic literature and in business practice. Just to illustrate how the concept is always evolving, CSR International, a non-profit organization, announced in 2009 the birth celebration of CSR International, an exciting new organization supporting the transition from what it called the ‘old CSR’ (Corporate Social Responsibility) or CSR 1.0 to the ‘new CSR’ (Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility) or CSR 2.0. Whether CSR 2.0 turns out to be substantially different

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.

This is a persuasive paper defining various business terms like corporate social responsibility and equal distribution of wealth. The thesis statement does state that the CSR programs are applied in various developed organizations to set an example for small and rising enterprises whereas the anti thesis statement is that there are no moral obligations felt by businesses to be involved in CSR. The financial aspect of CSR activities is also discussed; at times it is thought that involvement of business in any environmental friendly work may lead to higher costs whereas an opposite point of view is that CSR increases long run profit (Aras & Crowther, 2009). Now day’s Triple bottom line concept is aligned with business which is another

The push for company reporting to include CSR related information in annual reports is of utmost importance, given the prominence of corporate influence in today’s society. The recommendation to implement triple bottom line reporting would increase the extent to which companies are taking responsibility for the consequences of their actions, in relation to corporate activities that touch on environmental or other issues of community concern13

Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) is often described as the measures taken by companies to manage environmental, social and economic impacts of their business activities. Since the globalisation of economic and labour markets, CSR has become an argumentative topic. For companies to be considered as good in terms of CSR, they are required to go above and beyond of their legal requirements and take into consideration what is in the best interests of its stakeholders.

Companies with different sizes and structures understand that having sustainable operations is extremely important and they do so by balancing the 3 dimensions of the TBL concept. Environmental sustainability is related to the reduction of the footprint left by the company on the environment. Social sustainability shifts the focus to both internal communities (i.e., employees) and external ones (Pullman et al., 2009). In order to enhance their social reputation companies engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (Fombrun, 2005). Corporate Social Responsibility requires companies to acknowledge that they should be publicly accountable not only for their financial performance but also for their social and environmental record (CBI, 2001) and, by relating the TBL concept to CSR, it can be suggested that companies not only need to engage in socially and environmentally responsible behaviour, but, also, that positive financial gains can be made in the process (Gimenez et al, 2012).

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.

Nowadays, the employment of ethical principles and standards to the decision and actions of business organizations-better known as Business ethics- is a crucial issue for its strategic management; businesses are expected to have a formal code of ethics or policy that encourages corporate environmental sustainability. To do so, businesses have used different frameworks such as the eco-efficiency, natural step, triple bottom line, ecological footprint and so on, in fact, along with the TBL approach the CSR programs are the most commonly used, it is defined as the “management of stakeholder concern for responsible and irresponsible acts related to environmental, ethical and social phenomena in a way that creates corporate benefit” (Vaaland et al., 2008, p. 931), and can help business to display a more congruent and coherent identity that consequently will lead to enduring and substantial relationships with stakeholders.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY By Lori S. Mohr-Corrigan, For The Paper Store - © October 1999 VISIT www.paperwriters.com/aftersale.htm -- for more information on using this paper properly! Because society is fundamentally based upon performance and profit, it is not unusual to find that it is necessary to impart a sense of corporate social responsibility with regard to contemporary commerce. The ethical approaches of purpose, principle and consequence are integral components of business social performance; itemizing these contributions finds one incorporating the interests of ethics and morality within the corporate structure, essential concepts that are often absent from a managerial standpoint. Chapters two and three of Beauchamp and

Do corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports provide shareholders and stakeholders with useful information on corporate social and environmental performance or are they merely a public relations vehicle? Answer this question by reference to a variety of accounting theories.

A recent study published by Ernst and Young (2011) stated that 80% of top companies in Austria do not report their performance in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility. Reports that are published are not well integrated in the annual financial statements and are often not verified by external auditors. However, more and more companies adopt standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and become more and more aware of the importance of these issues.

Many companies think that corporate social responsibility is a peripheral issue for their business and

Supply Chain Responsibility is or at least should be part of a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy. CSR is a strategy that managers use to monitor, maintain, and often times improve the environmental and social impacts of their companies as well as how they interact with all of their stakeholders not just the shareholders for which their operations effect. Managers should use their CSR plains to balance the expectations of their often competing stakeholders with their environmental, social, and economic goals. Some fundamental CSR concerns are stakeholder engagement, environmental impact, responsible sourcing of raw materials, standards and working condition of the labor force, social and gender equity as well as good governance and anti-corruption control. CSR approaches focus on what is called a Triple Bottom Line for measurable results. The three measures are profit which is the economic value that a company creates, social which is the how the company treats its labor force and the communities for which it operates in and environmental which is how the company is engaged in the creation and application of sustainable practices that produce reductions or eliminates environmental impacts.

In this effort to create a sustainable and profitable organization, it is possible that corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies are developed and employed by the organization without CSR itself being the original motivator. In other words, sustainability can be the main motivator for organizations to establish CSR strategies. In doing this, it is possible that they are actually participating in corporate social irresponsibility (CSI). This paper will look at whether an

　　The relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosures and corporate performance is controversial. Many prior studies (Solomon & Solomon, 2003; Dhaliwal et al, 2011; Mustaruddin Saleh et al. 2011; Solomon, 2013; Belu & Manescu, 2013; Stuebs &