An important development that has taken place the last decades, and in particular in the last years, is that of Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR. Corporate Responsibility can be seen as actions of the firm that are beneficial to society and go beyond the legal responsibility and direct interests of the firm. (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001) Firms have been focusing more and more on being socially responsible, thinking about the impact their actions have on the environment and on society. In both the Americas and Europe more than 70% of organizations publishes about Corporate Social Responsibility in their annual reports. (KMPG Survey on CSR Reporting, 2013) Although there is not yet a consensus on whether or not organization actually have a social responsibility a lot of organizations set up CSR activities, or they at least say they do. But why do they do this? Nobody forces these organizations to have a CSR strategy. Without knowing the motivation behind implementing a CSR strategy it is not possible to determine the best way to implement this strategy. So it is important to first research these motives for implementing a CSR strategy. This research starts doing this by providing a theoretical analysis. There are several theories that could explain these motives and corporate social responsibility in general. The used business theories are: - Stakeholder Theory - Stockholder theory - Integrated Social Contract Theory These theories are chosen because they are the leading normative theories of business ethics. (Hasnas, 1998) First let’s take a closer look at Corporate Social Responsibility. What does Corporate Social Responsibility mean? This is a difficult question to answer because there are a lot of different views on this.... ... middle of paper ... ...this research a better understanding into how and why organizations choose for CSR, how successful they are in implementing their strategy and what the effect of those strategies is for the profitability of the organization. This is done through a literature based explanatory research Structure Now that the used theories are pointed out it is time to continue to the next step. In chapter two an extensive literature review will take a closer look at both corporate social responsibility and the three theories. In this chapter the origins of these concepts and the developments they have gone through are addressed. Next in chapter three the theories are compared and commonalities and differences are pointed out. In chapter four the theories are linked to CSR and the possible motives for practicing CSR they bring forth are proposed. Based on this a conclusion follows.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a when a firm goes beyond compliance and engages in “actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law” (McWilliams, Siegel & Wright, 2006)...
In particular, the authors examine the ways in which management may choose the most suitable approach, communicate it in the corporate environment, and address further implementation as a transformational organizational change (Lindgreen & Swaen, 2010). The next stage in this process is to measure the performance of the selected approach through the most contextually suitable indicators that would define the outcomes as positive, negative, or unproductive. Also, it is crucial to remember the importance of the stakeholders, whose expectations and demands are often conflicting. The broader is the corporate net, the more likely it is that stakeholders’ expectations will differ to the point of mutually exclusive contradictions. However, their interests must be taken into account and incorporated in the organizational CSR approach. Finally, the authors discuss how a business case for CSR may be created with corporate interest in
While CSR has been around since the 1950s, its significance and practice grabbed hold considerably later. The up-to-date meaning of CSR can be derived from Archie Carroll’s “Pyramid of Corporate
Corporate Social Responsibility, some may say it is an organization's duty to behave in an economically and environmentally acceptable manner but there is more to it that just that. A company has a duty to its shareholders, the duty to maximize benefits and avoid trouble, a responsibility to the employees and others who depend on that company for a living , and last but not least they have the duty to create a safe environment for everyone. A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr depicts a civil lawsuit that takes place in the United States. The lawsuit is filed by residents of a small town, Woburn, in Massachusetts, against two powerful corporations, Beatrice Foods and W.R. Grace, for polluting the water in the local river with carcinogen TCE and causing the deaths of many children. A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr demonstrates that the issue of Social Corporate Responsibility is prevalent throughout the piece but because of the adversary system of law there is no place for apology just winning for both parties.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the way a corporation achieves a balance between its economic, social, and environmental responsibilities in its operations so as to address shareholder and other stakeholder expectations. In general, when firms hold this wider encouraging role on the public by being engaged with stakeholders, a variety of profit can be produced for both company and the stakeholders. A key inclination is the combination of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into the organization strategy, culture, mission and communications. By incorporating corporate citizenship into the company it is no longer an additional “nice thing to do” or something made to obey laws or regulations. Instead, corporate responsibility has become something business leaders and workforce want to engage in, frequently because executives who believe in the long-term see business profit. The four types of social responsibilities a...
Company X is a plastic injection molding manufacturer located in Highland, Michigan. The company had started in 2005 and survived the hard economic times. Company X started out by first doing applique and added 6 months ago injection molding. There are two owners, and there are less than 75 employees. Every company small or large should take social responsibility.
In recent years, companies are becoming socially responsible and now stakeholders almost expect a company to have CSR policies. Therefore, in twentieth century, corporate social responsibility (CSR) became an important development in public life (Barnett, ND).Corporate social responsibility is defined as “the ways in which an organisation exceeds the minimum obligations to stakeholders specified through regulation and corporate governance” (Johnson, Schools and Whittington, N.D cited in March, 2012). Stakeholders can be defined as “those individuals or groups who depend on the organisation to fulfil their own goals and on whom, in turn, the organisation depends” (Johnson, Schools and Whittington, N.D cited in March, 2012). There are many purposes for this essay, the first purpose is to descried the key principles of corporate social responsibility and explain their importance for stakeholders. Secondly, is to show how far this company follows those principles in order to be accountable to at least three of its stakeholders. In this essay, three stakeholders, environment, customers and employees will be evaluated respectively and the key principles of the stakeholders will be examined.
According to Mike Peng, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the consideration and response to issues beyond the narrow economic, technical, and legal requirements of the firm to accomplish social benefits along with traditional economic gains the firm seeks. CSR is a way in which a company seeks to achieve a balance between profit, environmental concerns and social imperatives. This is known as the ‘Triple-Botto...
An organization’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) drives them to look out for the different interests of society. Most business corporations undertake responsibility for the impact of their organizational pursuits and various activities on their customers, employees, shareholders, communities and the environment. With the high volume of general competition between different companies and organizations in varied fields, CSR has become a morally imperative commitment, more than one enforced by the law. Most organizations in the modern world willingly try to improve the general well-being of not only their employees, but also their families and the society as a whole.
Many of us tend to believe that the main purpose of any business is to generate as much profit as possible. To operate on the market and be competitive, companies should make money in order to cover its fixed and variable costs. However, it is wrong to assume that profits should be the ultimate goal for the businesses. Recently, many corporations decided to transform their ways of doing business from a capitalistic approach towards more conscious and society-oriented way. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) - the term that is used to explain the mechanism that helps companies control its compliance with law, ethics and certain norms.
I begin this essay by defining CSR, there are many definitions for this term by various different theorists, and EU says that CSR is "A concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis." On the other hand, Sloman et al. define it as "The concept in which a firm takes into account is the interests and concerns of a community rather than just its shareholder". Davis and Blomstrom (1966), say it "Refers to a person’s obligation to consider the effects of his decisions and actions on the whole social system". These definitions differ from one another in many ways but they agree that CSR involves taking the environment into account and therefore, one must look take social responsibility.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a very familiar term in today’s world. Most of the successful companies try to be ethical and socially responsible toward their stakeholders. Because becoming ethical and socially responsible gains a lot in terms of profit or capturing more market share (Aras and Crowther,2009). This socially responsible approach is paved by the CSR activities of the companies which has a great contribution to their corporate strategy of winning the customers’ mind. In this assignment, the pros and corn of CSR activities of a particular organization a...
The classical view of CSR is a prominent ideology which business organizations are seen merely as profit-driven organizations. Simply put, businesses work for the sole purpose of making a profit. Thus, this profit motive is the sufficient and unique social identifier that separates a business organization from other institutions in society. These business organizations have a limited, yet essential role in society. Social concerns are considered important, but businesses, in the classical view, are focused solely on the economic activities and are judged accordingly. By having a limited role in society (i.e.,...
While the concept of an individual having responsibility is commonly recognized, modern views have lead to the emerging issue of corporate responsibility. Business Directory.com defines corporate social responsibility as, “A company’s sense of responsibility towards the community and environment (both ecological and social) in which it operates. Companies express this citizenship (1) through their waste and pollution reduction processes, (2) by contributing educational and social programs, and (3) by earning adequate returns on the employed resources.” But such a concept has been much disputed since at least the 1970’s.
In the current time of growth and progression, individuals should know that how a business not only flourish but sustain itself. Making profit is one of the main targets of every corporates but it must not be the only one. When an individual builds a company in order to do business, they should be well aware of their contribution towards the society as well as their business and employees in it. It is total strategy of all. We should be able to realize every increment contributes of it. One of the major factors that affect a business is how well it participates in Corporate Social Responsibility. According to (Werther & Chandler, 2006) corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to a business practice that involves participating in initiatives that benefits the society. In authenticity, there is a whole lot to argue about it. There are no major guidelines that decides either a business is participating in Corporate Social Responsibility; what might be considered a Business practicing CSR to some, can still not be accepted for it by others. CSR may be restrained a term which his highly flexible. This paper will discuss about Corporate Social Responsibility and its