{"id":73,"date":"2023-08-03T10:09:32","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T14:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cebe\/chapter\/__unknown__-15\/"},"modified":"2023-08-22T12:13:08","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T16:13:08","slug":"csr","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/cebe\/chapter\/csr\/","title":{"raw":"CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)","rendered":"CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)"},"content":{"raw":"

Like business ethics<\/a>, the term CSR<\/strong>\u00a0(corporate social responsibility)<\/strong> is used in multiple, and not always compatible, senses. Definitions vary, and in fact many supposed definitions of CSR do not read like definitions<\/em> at all. CSR may best be understood as the field that examines (and in some cases implements) a company\u2019s social responsibilities\u2014that is, its responsibilities not to particular stakeholders<\/a>, but to society \u201cas a whole.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

CSR is sometimes understood very broadly and other times very narrowly. In its broad sense, CSR is taken to encompass all of the concerns of business ethics (and perhaps much beyond). That is, those using the term \u201cCSR\u201d are not always focused exclusively on corporate<\/em> behaviour: demands for good CSR may be addressed to companies or business people not doing business in the corporate form. Similarly, they\u00a0are not always focused exclusively on social<\/em> responsibilities\u2014that is, responsibilities to persons or groups outside the company or to society generally. Finally, they are not always focused exclusively on responsibilities<\/em>\u2014legal or moral duties to act or avoid acting in particular ways\u00a0<\/em>(as opposed to duties, rights, entitlements, permissions, etc.) Thus, a company\u2019s program of philanthropic giving may be characterized as CSR even though it is debatable whether philanthropic giving is a responsibility (that is, a duty) of a company or a business person.<\/p>\r\nIn its narrow sense, CSR may be taken to refer specifically to conferring gift-like benefits on groups or communities that are in some sense outside the company\u2019s normal line of business. Philanthropic giving or, for example, permitting employees to take a work day with pay to build houses for Habitat for Humanity may be thought of as central examples of a company\u2019s CSR efforts.\u00a0Narrow-sense CSR activities or programs are sometimes criticized by\u00a0CSR advocates as being motivated less by the societal betterment that results from well designed and implemented efforts and more by public relations considerations, pursued as a disguised form of advertising.\r\n\r\nRelated to the distinction between the broad and narrow senses of CSR is the question of what is the relationship between CSR and business ethics. Is CSR an umbrella concept of which business ethics is a part? Alternatively, is business ethics\u00a0an umbrella concept of which CSR is a part? Do they refer to different and non-overlapping ways in which companies or business people should act?\r\n\r\nSee also in CEBE:<\/b>\r\n