What is it?
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is concerned with the way in which organisations coordinate their values and behaviour with the expectations and needs of their stakeholders. This includes their employees, suppliers, communities, regulators, special interest groups and society as a whole, not just their customers and investors.
The central requirement of CSR strategy therefore, is that a company be accountable to its stakeholders for managing its social, environmental and wider economic impacts in a way that maximises the benefits and minimises the downsides.
The European Commission (2001) has defined CSR as ‘a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns into their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis’.
What do I have to do?
CSR is voluntary. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to CSR, each organisation needs to consider the nature of their business and its key impacts in developing their CSR practice. However, listed below are the core elements of CSR:
- Voluntary action
- Internalizing or managing externalities
- Multiple stakeholder orientation
- Alignment of social and environmental responsibilities
- Practices and values
- Going beyond philanthropy
- Benchmarking
- Responsible sourcing
What’s in it for me?
CSR is not only about fulfilling duties to society; it should also bring competitive advantage to your organisation. Through an effective CSR programme, companies can:
- Improve access to capital
- Sharpen decision making
- Brand differentiation
- Uncover previously hidden commercial opportunities, including new markets
- Reduce costs
- Manage Risk
- Attract, retain and motivate employees
Corporations can show governments and the wider public that they are taking issues such as the environment, health and safety, diversity seriously, by taking substantive voluntary steps.
A good CSR strategy will put the most responsible practices at the centre of your business. It can take businesses beyond compliance and can be used to motivate to continuous improvement. CSR is increasingly being seen as advantage to businesses, rather than a burden.
See the government's defintion of corporate social responsibility.
See Volunteering England, a government-supported website.
See Business in the Community website