Csr Case Study

Summary of main changes in CSR. Describe main models of CSR and their limitations. How to reconcile CSR with CFP corporate financial responsibility

The trend has been a progressive rationalization of the concept with a particular focus on tighter coupling with organizations’ financial goals. Rationalization involves two broad shifts in the conceptualization of CSR. First, in terms of the level of analysis, researchers have moved from the discussion of the macro-social effects of CSR to organizational-level analysis of CSR’s effect on profit. Next, in terms of theoretical orientation, researchers have moved from explicitly normative and ethics-oriented arguments to implicitly normative and performance-oriented managerial studies.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been transformed from an irrelevant and often frowned-upon idea to one of the most orthodox and widely accepted concepts in the business world during the last twenty years or so. The concept of CSR, particularly in terms of how it relates to other organizational goals, has been steadily evolving ever since it was introduced. In 1919, the concept of social responsibilities of a corporation was vaguely framed in moral and macro-social terms such that shareholders could not see how it served their interest or how it was related to the performance and management of the corporation. Even until the late 1970s, CSR was derided as a joke. Milton Friedman vehemently opposed the idea of CSR on the grounds that it imposes an unfair and costly burden on shareholders. Also, most mid-level managers saw CSR as a cost with highly uncertain outcomes. In the early 1970s, an attempt towards new theoretical development that could reconcile CSR and company’s profitability was initiated. The reconciliation effort inevitably brought the discussion of CSR to a more concrete and observable level of organizations and engaged the question of the financial ramifications of CSR. The concepts of CSR and CFP (company’s...