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. Almost 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 points 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. In this book a clear definition of corporate social responsibility will be given and the principles of CSR will be discussed.

Preface

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.

Content

1. Defining Corporate Social Responsibility
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Definitions of CSR
1.3 The effects of organisational activity
1.4 The principles of CSR
1.5 Conclusion
1.6 References
1.7 Further reading
1.8 Self-test Questions

2. The principles of CSR
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The prominence of CSR
2.3 Changing emphasis in companies
2.4 Environmental issues and their effects and implications
2.5 Externalising costs
2.6 The Social Contract
2.7 Conclusions
2.8 References
2.9 Further reading
2.10 Self-test Questions

3. Stakeholders & the social contract
3.1 Introduction
3.2 What is a stakeholder?
3.3 Multiple stakeholding
3.4 The classification of stakeholders
3.5 Stakeholder Theory
3.6 Regulation and its implications
3.7 Risk Reducing
3.8 Conclusions
3.9 References
3.10 Further Reading
3.11 Self-test Questions

4. Issues concerning Sustainability
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Defining sustainability
4.3 The Brundtland Report
4.4 Critiquing Brundtland
4.5 Sustainability and the Cost of Capital
4.6 Redefining sustainability
4.7 Distributable sustainability
4.8 Summarising Sustainability
4.9 Conclusions
4.10 References
4.11 Further reading
4.12 Self-test Questions

5. Ethics, CSR and Corporate Behavior
5.1 Introduction
5.2 What is Ethics? The Why ?
5.3 Ethical philosophies
5.4 The Gaia Hypothesis
5.5 Corporate Behaviour
5.6 CSR, Ethics and Corporate Behavior
5.7 Corporate Reputation
5.7 Conclusion
5.8 References
5.9 Further Reading
5.10 Self-test Questions

Notes