CRS in terms of marketing strategy and competitive advantage.
Propose:
This present paper tries to enhance the different views about CSR, in the global vision of all the stakeholders, in the particular context of retailing. We will treat the interest for a company to deal with responsible actions and activities, and the main breaks found by certain authors. The subject is treated in relation with marketing strategies and tries to persuade the readers that CSR is a good solution to gain competitive advantage.
Executive summary:
Several organizations such as governments, activists or the media, want to make the general public aware about the social consequences of the companies ' activities, by publishing different rankings classifying companies according their involvement in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Porter and Kramer (2006a) explain that this concept of CSR has taken an increasing importance in the companies ' corporate strategies, in order to escape from the bad publicity entailed by such publications. So, what is the final thought about CRS, and is it a relevant subject today? First, we will see the main discussions about CSR, secondly, how to implement such a strategy in a retailing context, and finally, we will discuss the Tesco 's Corporate Social Activities (CSI) in a CSR strategy.
Findings:
To turn or not to turn into a CSR strategy? That is the question
Definitions
First, let us try to define the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility. Generally, one agrees to consider that the first notion of social responsibility was broached in 1953 by Bowen, who explains that companies have the obligation "to pursue those policies, to make those decisions, or to follow those lines of actions which are desirable in terms of the objectives and values of society" Bowen (1953:6). As Carroll (1979) who defines CRS as the economic, legal ethical and discretionary demands that society