What is Corporate Social Responsibility?

Corporate social responsibility is no longer a buzzword, but a permanent concept in the business world.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been defined differently by many different organizations. For example:

1. Your commitment as a company to operate economically, socially and environmentally conscious while balancing the interests of your stockholders.

2. How you manage the processes in your business to impact society positively.

3. The different types of activities you engage in and resources you use to increase your profits without excessive use of deception or fraud.

4. A process of integrating social and environmental concerns into the operation of your business, while seeking a profit.

No matter the definition you choose, Corporate Social Responsibility iis all about taking into consideration the interest of society, environment, shareholders, employees and all other types of social relationships. This is more than just about staying within the law, as far as your obligations are concerned. It is above and beyond that.

For example, there are certain emission laws, as they relate to pollution, to protect the environment. However, many people argue that these laws are ridiculously low in their standards. As a company, you have to consider how much you're willing to pollute the environment, in order to secure a profit. What is the balance? You have to answer that to determine your own social responsibility.

Most people approach corporate social responsibility, as it relates to developing community projects, or aligning with beneficial causes. For example, there are many different businesses who align themselves with breast cancer awareness, to increase the awareness and to help secure funds for research. In this instance, they are using their good standing in the community, as well as their high traffic areas to exercise good social and ethical behavior.

In fact, there are many different Corporate Social Responsiblity standards that a business can comply to, if they want to start enforcing more social responsibility within the corporation. For example, there is Global Reporting Initiative's Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, social accountability international SA8000 standard, and Verite's Monitoring Guidelines.

In conclusion, I have given you some information on what corporate social responsibility is, and how it affects the business world. Use this to determine your own social responsibility within your corporation.