1 Name Institution Course Date Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) summary The intuition behind corporate social responsibility

y (CSR) is that business organizations should not only concentrate on making profits, but also extend its contribution to the resolution of a variety of social and environmental problems, and this is what constitutes desirable business behavior.1 For that matter, business organizations should take responsibility for both their business driven actions as well as the impacts on society and natural environment. It is noteworthy that CSR is trendy now, but as a notion, it is indistinct and it has a different meaning to different people. These are the stakeholders, shareholders and citizens. Stakeholders are all the participants ranging from organizations shareholders and society as a whole. A firm has both internal and external stakeholders who have different views as regards CSR, and the stakeholders believe that CSR activities should have a positive influence to both the internal and external stakeholders.2 Therefore, shareholders hold the view that CSR activities should motivate staff and at the same time exhibit an acceptable management practice. Meanwhile, citizens believe that firms involvement with CSR activities should be a target to ensure that a company earns an unimpeachable reputation in society and help the firm manages

1 Fred Robins, (2008),"Why corporate social responsibility should be popularized but not imposed", Corporate Governance. P 331 2 Manuela Drews, (2010),"Measuring the business and societal benefits of corporate responsibility, Corporate Governance. P423

2 its peripheral functions better than ever.3 Therefore, social responsibility has a strong relationship with business. This is because if an organization does not ensure that the same people that it counts on buying its products are in decent form, and are well able to buy the products, then it is certain that its business will flop on one side. Therefore, the organization can alleviate this problem through CSR activities that aim to improve the standards of the society both financially and health wise.4 However, the company should execute these activities with caution because they are opportunity costs for a business. CSR is not a new word for it started with the industrial revolution, but only that the drivers of todays CSR are different and complex.5 Some of The today's drivers include the companies enlightenment with regard to values, emergence of a new form of differentiation and community expectations among many others. There is an increase in the expectations from the public that continue to pressure companies to be accountable. This is because of the belief that organizations cause a number of social problems, and thus should take the responsibility of solving them as well as preventing further problems from arising.6 These CSR activities academically attempt to achieve the mutual relationship notion that no organization can exist as an entity; therefore, it should strive to encompass the society to create a healthy relationship from which the society can judge them. However, in practice, the companies do not carry out CSR activities to assist the society but rather to for business benefits.7 Therefore, business activities

Manuela Drews, (2010),"Measuring the business and societal benefits of corporate responsibility, Corporate Governance. P424 4 Ralph Tench, Ryan Bowd, Brian Jones, (2007),"Perceptions and perspectives: corporate social responsibilityand the media", Journal of Communication Management. P350 5 Rayman-Bacchus, Lez. And Crowther, D. 2004. Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility. P1 6 Bagnoli, Mark and Susan G Watts. 2003. Selling to Socially Responsible Consumers: Competition and The Private Provision of Public Goods, 7 Fred Robins, (2008),"Why corporate social responsibility should be popularized but not imposed", Corporate Governance. P 340

3 are also drivers for CSR and this is because just as CSR activities aim at achieving the mission and vision of an organization so is business activities.8 The only difference is that business activities are central to the organizations functioning, and the law demands that. However, CSR activities are optional and significant for only those companies that look for a competitive advantage. However, some companies involve themselves with social activities just to build their reputation and not entirely to benefit the society. This is because a CSR activity should benefit sides, the organization and the community. Nevertheless, if it reaches a point where a company suffers loses track of its business activities just to demonstrate exemplary corporate citizenship then this is just a social responsibility. This shows that social activities are not social responsibility, for it does not occur to the company that it is their responsibility to make donations, volunteer with the community or improve the surrounding environment, for they take on social activities just as a, by the way. This leads to the finding that the motivation behind most CSR is a business case. This is because if an organization is certain if it gets involved in community based activities, it will improve its sales, for increased interaction with the community makes the organization learn about the needs of the society, then there are high chances that the organization will not waste time to take the venture.9 This is because of the fact that CSR is an opportunity cost and its execution should bring profits other than losses, and then it is worthy the try. For that matter, CSR is just a strategic management initiative that aims at gaining a competitive advantage over other firms and not a responsibility that organizations must take.
8 Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya, (2010),"Exploring the concept of strategic corporate social responsibility for an integrated perspective", p 91 9 Fred Robins, (2008),"Why corporate social responsibility should be popularized but not imposed", Corporate Governance. P 331

4 In as much as CSR initiatives may be profit or nonprofit driven, the fact is that they address social and sustainability issues, and this is extremely evident in todays world where global warming has taken root. This is because most companies address social issues of the community in which they exist, and this may be through, creation of job opportunities through the establishment of development projects that work to conserve the environment and ensure there is a sustainable future.10 However, there still exists a lack of clarity about business and social change where social changes result from improved standards of living both economically and environmentally. Therefore, a social change is an outcome of a business change in the same way a business change comes because of a change in social change. This is because, if the society improves economically, then it means that it can buy goods and services the company provides, and this will lead to an improved sales of the company.

Manuela Drews, (2010),"Measuring the business and societal benefits of corporate responsibility,p 421

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Bibliography Bagnoli, Mark and Susan G Watts. 2003. Selling to Socially Responsible Consumers: Competition and The Private Provision of Public Goods, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 12 (3), 419445. Fred Robins, (2008),"Why corporate social responsibility should be popularized but not imposed", Corporate Governance, Vol. 8 Iss: 3 pp. 330 341 Manuela Drews, (2010),"Measuring the business and societal benefits of corporate responsibility, Corporate Governance, Vol. 10 Iss: 4 pp. 421 431 Ralph Tench, Ryan Bowd, Brian Jones, (2007),"Perceptions and perspectives: corporate social responsibilityand the media", Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 11 Iss: 4 pp. 348 370 Rayman-Bacchus, Lez. And Crowther, D. 2004. Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility. New York, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya, (2010),"Exploring the concept of strategic corporate social responsibility foran integrated perspective", European Business Review, Vol. 22 Iss: 1 pp. 82 101