CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY (CSR)
Corporate Social Responsibility - Definition
CSR is social obligations of a business
over
and above making a profit
-
A central feature of the above definition is
that an action or deed has to be voluntary
-
The business should not be coerced into
corporate social responsibility
Main Concepts of CSR
CSR
(Carrol, 1979)
Firms have responsibilities to societies including economic, legal,
ethical and discretionary (or philanthropic).
See also DeGeorge (1999) on the “Myth of the Amoral Firm”
Social Contract
(Donaldson, 1982; Donaldson and Dunfee, 1999) –
There is a tacit social contract between the firm and society; the
contract bestows certain rights in exchange for certain responsibilities.
Stakeholder Theory
(Freeman, 1984) – A stakeholder is “any group or
individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of an
organization’s purpose.”
Argues that it is in the company’s strategic
interest to respect the interests of all its stakeholders
Main Concepts of CSR
CSR = political economy
The rights and responsibilities assigned to private industry
Key Issues in CSR
Labour rights:
child labour
forced labour
right to organise
safety and health
Environmental conditions
water & air emissions
climate change
Human rights
cooperation with paramilitary forces
complicity in extra-judicial killings
Poverty Alleviation
job creation
public revenues
skills and technology
Global Context
Liberalisation of markets – reduction of the regulatory
approach
Emergence of global giants, consolidation of market
share
Development of the ‘embedded firm’ and the global value
chain
Development of supplier networks in developing countries
