CSR Reflection Paper
CSR Course Reflection – Inside India: Discovering New Realities
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) & Corporate Shared Value (CSV)
Before reflecting on the related Indian course module, it’s pertinent to have a better understanding of how CSR has evolved over the years, and how more companies are now subscribing to CSV to remain relevant.
In many countries around the world, economic activities are mainly organised by business entities, while governments, due to lack of resources, withdraw from economic and welfare activities. Enterprises become dominant economic and even political players in these countries, despite the variation in their institutional governance systems. Their economic activities affect the environment, be it via climate change or communities that rely on these enterprises for their livelihoods. Given their huge resources and advanced technology, many global economic forums are proposing for enterprises to help mitigate the environmental and social problems of climate change, illiteracy and poverty.
The term “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) first emerged in the 1960s to discuss the role of business in society. Its definition, however, was argued by Friedman (1970) as a responsibility towards maximising shareholders value, with its “one and only social responsibility… is to use its resource and engage in activities designed to increase the profits so along as it stays within the rules of the game”. Over time, there are more versions of what CSR entailed, including that of the European Commission (2011), as “the concept that an enterprise is accountable for its impact on all relevant stakeholders. It is the continuing commitment by business to behave fairly and responsibly, and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the work force and their families as well as of the local community and society at large…” In essence, CSR is reflected as a contribution to sustainable development, implying the way
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) & Corporate Shared Value (CSV)
Before reflecting on the related Indian course module, it’s pertinent to have a better understanding of how CSR has evolved over the years, and how more companies are now subscribing to CSV to remain relevant.
In many countries around the world, economic activities are mainly organised by business entities, while governments, due to lack of resources, withdraw from economic and welfare activities. Enterprises become dominant economic and even political players in these countries, despite the variation in their institutional governance systems. Their economic activities affect the environment, be it via climate change or communities that rely on these enterprises for their livelihoods. Given their huge resources and advanced technology, many global economic forums are proposing for enterprises to help mitigate the environmental and social problems of climate change, illiteracy and poverty.
The term “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) first emerged in the 1960s to discuss the role of business in society. Its definition, however, was argued by Friedman (1970) as a responsibility towards maximising shareholders value, with its “one and only social responsibility… is to use its resource and engage in activities designed to increase the profits so along as it stays within the rules of the game”. Over time, there are more versions of what CSR entailed, including that of the European Commission (2011), as “the concept that an enterprise is accountable for its impact on all relevant stakeholders. It is the continuing commitment by business to behave fairly and responsibly, and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the work force and their families as well as of the local community and society at large…” In essence, CSR is reflected as a contribution to sustainable development, implying the way
Bibliography: Carol Moore, Corporate social Responsibility and creating Shared values: What is the difference? Heifer Interntional, May14, 2014 European Commission (2011) Milton Friedman, The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits, The New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970.