Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as the voluntary activities undertaken by a company to operate in an economic, social and environmentally sustainable manner.
When companies operate in an economically, socially and environmentally responsible manner, and they do so transparently, it helps them succeed, in particular through encouraging shared value and social license. Management and mitigation of social and environmental risk factors are increasingly important for business success abroad, as the costs to companies of losing that social license, both in terms of share price and the bottom line, may be significant.
JOHNSON & JOHNSON is a good example of a company that follows CSR.
In 1982, Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol medication commanded 35 per cent of the US over-the-counter analgesic market - representing something like 15 per cent of the company's profits. Unfortunately, at that point one individual succeeded in lacing the drug with cyanide. Seven people died as a result, and a widespread panic ensued about how widespread the contamination might be.
By the end of the episode, everyone knew that Tylenol was associated with the scare. The company's market value fell by $1bn as a result. When the same situation happened in 1986, the company had learned its lessons well. It acted quickly - ordering that Tylenol should be recalled from every outlet - not just those in the state where it had been tampered with. Not only that, but the company decided the product would not be re-established on the shelves until something had been done to provide better product protection.
As a result, Johnson & Johnson developed the tamperproof packaging that would make it much more difficult for a similar incident to occur in future. The cost was a high one. In addition to the impact on the company's share price when the crisis first hit, the lost production and destroyed goods as a result of the recall were