Corporate social responsibility: The good corporation

Companies were created to make money – ‘profit maximisation’ was the mantra. Management resisted attempts to integrate social and environmental concerns into business operations. Shareholders’ returns were dominant. This book describes the growth of Corporate Social Responsibility – the attitude or process by which a company balances economic, environmental and social demands (sometimes called the ‘Triple-Bottom-Line’), without losing sight of the expectations of shareholders. CSR is a business management concept, separate from pure charity or philanthropy. Nonetheless, the CSR that dies most ‘good’ is favoured because it most enhances the reputation and brand of the company. For many managers the dawning of CSR has been liberating and satisfying, although not all stakeholders support CSR policies all the time. There is no doubt, though, that in the age of pollution and global warming, CSR will become the dominant theme and rationale of the corporation. there will be a race to become the ‘good corporation”, as the ‘bad corporation’ becomes more easily pilloried in the era of transparency and communication.