Corporate Social Responsibility

It is overwhelming how corporations have embedded a social responsibility in their mission statements and company objectives. This leaves us with one assertion that is that corporations do have some level of obligation towards society’s morality; however, the corporation itself is not a moral agent (Klaus M. Leisinger). The discussion that follows is about corporations being moral agents or otherwise; however I will reach a conclusion that corporations do have an obligation that extends beyond obeying the law; evens so this obligation have been derived from the corporations quest for profit making. Corporation’s obligation

Many believe that business entities should have an ethical duty to be socially responsible, to work towards increasing its positive effects on society while decreasing its negative effects. Many organizations look for opportunities to be socially responsible while also creating shareholder wealth.

Every business has a social responsibility toward society. That means to maximize positive affects and minimize negative affects on the society. Social responsibilities includes economic-to produce goods and services, that society needs at the price, that satisfy both-business and consumers, legal

Stakeholders are individuals or groups who have an effect or are affected by the activities of an organisation. The stakeholder approach means that the business focuses on the needs of its main stakeholders. These can include the local community, employees, customers and suppliers and can focus on environmental issues, regular orders and security of employment. In contrast to this the shareholders approach focuses on giving a good sized dividend to shareholders, which means the business objectives would be based on getting more profit.

The stakeholder theory is a theory of organizational management and business ethics that addresses morals and values in managing an organization.[1] It was originally detailed by R. Edward Freeman in the book Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, and identifies and models the groups which are stakeholders of a corporation, and both describes and recommends methods by which management can give due regard to the interests of those groups. In short, it attempts to address the "Principle of Who or What Really Counts."[2]

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) is a term describing a company’s obligation to be accountable to all of its stakeholder in all its operation and activities. Socially responsible companies consider the full scope of their impact on communities and the environment when making decisions, balancing the needs of stakeholder with their need to make profit.

“According to Carroll (1983), “corporate social responsibility involves the conduct of business so that it is economically profitable, law abiding, ethical and socially supportive. To be socially responsible then means that profitability and obedience to the law are foremost conditions when discussing the firm’s ethics and the extent to which it supports the society in which it exists with contributions of money, time and talent (p.608).”

The integrative model of social responsibility, which involves the stakeholder theory and moral minimum theory, and the philosophical ethical theory of utilitarianism are the most responsible approaches to business because they involve the standards of knowing who your actions affect, knowing how to help the most people possible, and knowing how to benefit those who are left out of the positive externalities of a business decision. This paper will discuss the implications of these theories in further depth and will look at a few business cases that demonstrate a failure to meet standards of responsibility.

With the increased crisis that the planet faces, the business practices of companies has ever become an important issue for people. CSR is one way that companies could improve their image.

Corporate Social Responsibility involves making sure that the organisations goods and services meet the customers’ demands and are provided in a fair way and also that they are involved in relevant sponsorship and humanitarian activities to help social development.

It is evident that the activities of every business are concern for all its stakeholders and for the business itself and this initiates continuing business activities to inculcate the code of ethics and social responsibility in its organization. Social responsibility for the corporate become an integral part of their various operations be it in human resource, in management or in wealth creation process which increases the competitiveness in the market of the business and enhances wealth creation value for the society as whole. But there is nothing same for the different organization that are different approaches, different values and priorities of the business. The business goal is to encourage the positive approach of

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is part of the reality of doing business. CSR is also known as corporate science, corporate citizenship or responsible business. CSR is important for both business as well as society. CSR is all about how a company is able to show and manage its positive impact on the society. CSR is able to earn its own name in the world of business.

Corporate Social Responsibility refers to a company’s sense of responsibility towards the community and environment, in both ecological and social aspects, in which it operates. It may also termed as "corporate citizenship" and can involve incurring short-term costs that do not provide an immediate financial benefit to the company, but instead of this it promotes positive social and environmental change.

So what is the Corporate Social Responsibility?The World Business Council for Sustainable Development in its publication “Making Good Business Sense” by Lord Holme and Richard Watts, used the following definition

According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2014) CSR is described as the ongoing commitment by organisations/businesses to contribute to the economic development while improving the quality of life of the stake holders as well as the community and society as a whole. CSR involves organisations going beyond focusing entirely on how to maximize profits, to being more committed to building a better society.