May 2004
AUTHORS:
Danette Wineberg
Phillip H. Rudolph
OVERVIEW:
Corporate social responsibility has been defined as: The contribution that a company makes in society through its core business activities, its social investment and philanthropy programs, and its engagement in public policy. That contribution is determined by the manner in which a company manages its economic, social and environmental impacts and manages its relationships with different stakeholders, in particular shareholders, employees, customers, business partners, governments, communities and future generations.
Although CSR is related to, and overlaps in some respects with, the concepts of corporate governance and ethics, it is nevertheless distinct. Governance is a baseline standard that focuses on compliance with rules and regulations. Ethics is a broader, values based concept that transcends a limited and literal focus on rules and regulations. As with governance programs, however, ethics programs tend to be internally focused and, despite their emphasis on values, generally retain a heavy rules-based flavor.
In contrast, CSR tends to be more values-based and externally focused, addressing a broader array of corporate stakeholders such as internal stakeholders (e.g., employees, shareholders), external stakeholders (e.g., communities, customers, NGOs,
and other activist groups), and entities that might be thought to have the characteristics of both (e.g., suppliers, socially responsible investor groups (SRIs), and licensing partners). CSR encompasses a focus by management not merely on the economic bottom-line, but also on the company’s impact on community, the environment, and society at large.
FULL TEXT: FREE DOWNLOAD
0 comments:
Post a Comment