Corporate Social Responsibilities

Theories and ideas about Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming more and more important nowadays. It is the obligations of companies to behave ethically and to bring about growth of economic, while develop the quality of life of the labor force and their families, as well as the community and society at large. CSR is a complex principle and an effective way to understand clearly about it is to have a look at these two articles: Brad Howarth, C.2005, “Character building; Sales & Marketing”, Sydney Morning Herald, June 23, ProQuest ANZ Newsstand and Katie Lahey, C.2001, “Good business is about stakeholders, not just shareholders”, Sydney Morning Herald, May 18, ProQuest ANZ Newsstand.

CSR and Points of view in two articles

CSR is an evolving term without a recognized set of specific criteria and as such it does not have a standard definition (Waddell et al, 2007, p.174).   CSR is about striking a balance between economic, environment and social obligations, while at the same time addressing stakeholder or shareholder expectations (Waddell et al, 2007, p.174). CSR is mentioned clearly in the first article “Character building; Sales & Marketing” by Brad Howarth: “Companies are worried about what people think, so developing a corporate reputation is now a full-time job”. Although Howarth does not give a definition of CSR in his article, he emphasies the importance of it in recent time. He uses many examples to show that an organization’s reputation is extremely necessary for its development.

Clare Hart, chief executive officer of business information service Factiva considers building a corporate reputation strategy is going to be part of the planning process. Meanwhile, Laurel Grossman, chief executive of RepuTex, assumes that a poor reputation can erode financial performance and share price and make it harder to attract and retain good staff. Tim William, Westpac’s senior manager for corporate social responsibility...