The Business Case for Csr

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility is a relatively new in the management field and there is no single definition of it since everyone’s interpretation of the term is different. “Corporate Social Responsibility means something, but not always the same thing to everybody.” (Votaw, 1972, p.25) and from my understanding of the concept, CSR to me is “The voluntary business activities within the boundary of law that contributes to the wider community for a more sustainable environment”. Since everyone has a unique interpretation of CSR, the range of relevant CSR practices across businesses has been quite diverse as there is no such thing as features of CSR (Marcel van Marrewijk, 2003). Rising environmental and social concerns in recent years have leaded a large number of managers to focus on the importance of the contemporary concept of corporate social responsibility. “91 percent of executives believe that corporate responsibility creates shareholder value, or that 80 percent say that non-financial indicators are essential to characterize future financial performance.” (Blowfield and Murray, 2008, p.131; Figures from Ethical Corporation and Nima Hunter Inc, 2003) Therefore they generally agree with Davis that “A better society produces a better environment for business” (1973, p.313). Many researchers have shown that CSR can bring competitive advantages to businesses and suggested that in the long- run it can generate positive business performances (Blowfield and Murray, 2008). If that is the case, why isn’t every business doing it? Although the number of supporters of the business case for CSR is large, but so do the opposite view. Hence in this essay, I will explore the arguments and evidences both for and against the business case for CSR to provide a more solid foundation for my thesis that “Corporate social responsibility contributes to businesses”.

The basis of the debate for CSR has been constructed by two famous academics, Milton Friedman and