What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Since the 1960s, corporate social responsibility has attracted attention from a range of businesses and stakeholders. A wide variety of definitions have been developed but with little consensus. Part of the problem with definitions has arisen because of the different interests represented. A business person may define CSR as a business strategy, an NGO activist may see it as ‘greenwash’ while a government official may see it as voluntary regulation.” In addition, disagreement about the definition will arise from the disciplinary approach.” For example, while an economist might consider the director’s discretion necessary for CSR to be implemented a risk of agency costs, a law academic may consider that discretion to be an appropriate expression of what the law demands from directors.
Corporate social responsibility has been defined by Sheehy, Benedict. “Defining CSR: Problems and Solutions”. Journal of Business Ethics. as “international private business self-regulation.” Sheehy examined a range of different disciplinary approaches to defining CSR. The definitions reviewed included the economic definition of “sacrificing profits,” a management definition of “beyond compliance”, institutionalist views of CSR as a “socio-political movement” and law’s own focus on directors’ duties. Further, Sheehy considered Archie Carroll’s description of CSR as a pyramid of responsibilities, namely, economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities.
While Carroll, Archie B. (1991). “The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders”. Business Horizons. was not defining CSR, but simply arguing for classification of activities, Sheehy developed a definition differently following the philosophy of science—the branch of philosophy used for defining phenomena. Carroll extended corporate social responsibility from the traditional economic and legal responsibility to ethical and philanthropic responsibility in response to the rising concerns on ethical issues in businesses. This view is reflected in the Business Dictionary which defines CSR as “a company’s sense of responsibility towards the community and environment (both ecological and social) in which it operates. Companies express this citizenship (1) through their waste and pollution reduction processes, (2) by contributing educational and social programs and (3) by earning adequate returns on the employed resources.”
We at Bahrain CSR Society we define Corporate social responsibility (CSR,) as a type of international private business self-regulation. While once it was possible to describe CSR as an internal organisational policy or a corporate ethic strategy, that time has passed as various international laws have been developed and various organizations have used their authority to push it beyond individual or even industry-wide initiatives. While it has been considered a form of corporate self-regulation for some time, over the last decade or so it has moved considerably from voluntary decisions at the level of individual organizations, to mandatory schemes at regional, national and even transnational levels.