Corporate Social Responsibility: Part I

Corporate Social Responsibility (or CSR as we will call it throughout this book) is a concept which has become dominant in business reporting. Every corporation has a policy concerning CSR and produces a report annually detailing its activity. And of course each of us claims to be able to recognise corporate activity which is socially responsible and activity which is not socially responsible. There are two interesting pints about this: firstly we do not necessarily agree with each other about what is socially responsible; and although we claim to recognise what it is or is not when we are asked to define it then we find this impossibly difficult. Thus the number of different definitions is huge and is this chapter we will look at some of these.

• About the Authors

1. Defining Corporate Social Responsibility
   1. Introduction
   2. Definitions of CSR
   3. The effects of organisational activity
   4. The principles of CSR
   5. Conclusion
   6. References
   7. Self-test Questions
2. The principles of CSR
   1. Introduction
   2. The prominence of CSR
   3. Changing emphasis in companies
   4. Environmental issues and their effects and implications
   5. Externalising costs
   6. The Social Contract
   7. Conclusions
   8. References
   9. Self-test Questions
3. Stakeholders & the social contract
   1. Introduction
   2. What is a stakeholder?
   3. Multiple stakeholding
   4. The classification of stakeholders
   5. Stakeholder Theory
   6. Regulation and its implications
   7. Risk Reducing
   8. Conclusions
   9. References
   10. Self-test Questions
4. Issues concerning Sustainability
   1. Introduction
   2. Defining sustainability
   3. The Brundtland Report
   4. Critiquing Brundtland
   5. Sustainability and the Cost of Capital
   6. Redefining sustainability
   7. Distributable sustainability
   8. Summarising Sustainability
   9. Conclusions
   10. References
   11. Self-test Questions
5. Ethics, CSR and Corporate Behavior
   1. Introduction
   2. What is Ethics? The Why?
   3. Ethical philosophies
   4. The Gaia Hypothesis
   5. Corporate Behaviour
   6. CSR, Ethics and Corporate Behavior
   7. Corporate Reputation
   8. Conclusion
   9. References
   10. Self-test Questions

• Endnotes

Understand the basic principles of corporate social responsibility and its importance for businesses. Learn how ethical behavior can impact corporate actions and decision-making processes. Recognize the role of stakeholders in influencing how companies operate and make decisions. Explore the concept of sustainability and how businesses can act to protect the environment for future generations.