Comparative Critical Review of Corporate Social Responsibility Business Managenent Models [in:] International Journal of Contemporary Management, Volume 15, Number 2/2016, ISSN 2449-8920, ISSN 1643-5494, pp. 123-150, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytet Jagielloński, 2016 (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Contemporary Management, 2016
Background. Today's turbulent economic reality characterised by market distortions, financial and economy crises and increasingly frequent business scandals question the validity of current business models, including also those concerning the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Research aims. The aim of this article is the comparative critical review of the most common CSR business models and criticism of the current CSR rhetoric. We hypothesise that the CSR business model should have grounded institutional foundations that the majority of them lack. Methodology. As a methodology in our research we use a critical management studies. We base our analysis on the profound literature review. Following the ethical-normative theory of Hopwood (Hopwood & Miller, 1994) and acknowledging stakeholders approach, legitimacy theory, and social contract theory as foundations of our motivation we critically compare 7 conceptual CSR business models. These business models are described based on the positive theory. Key findings. The general conclusion indicates that the reviewed CSR business models do not consider institutional factors and pragmatic realism of business activities. Moreover, those models are embedded in unrealistic economic conditions. They have many shortcomings and weaknesses that as for now remain a challenge both for the academic research and practice.
Comparative Critical Review of Corporate Social Responsibility Business Management Models
Background. Today’s turbulent economic reality characterised by market distortions, financial and economy crises and increasingly frequent business scandals question the validity of current business models, including also those concerning the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Research aims. The aim of this article is the comparative critical review of the most common CSR business models and criticism of the current CSR rhetoric. We hypothesise that the CSR business model should have grounded institutional foundations that the majority of them lack. Methodology. As a methodology in our research we use a critical management studies. We base our analysis on the profound literature review. Following the ethical-normative theory of Hopwood (Hopwood & Miller, 1994) and acknowledging stakeholders approach, legitimacy theory, and social contract theory as foundations of our motivation we critically compare 7 conceptual CSR business models. These business models are described based on the positive theory. Key findings. The general conclusion indicates that the reviewed CSR business models do not consider institutional factors and pragmatic realism of business activities. Moreover, those models are embedded in unrealistic economic conditions. They have many shortcomings and weaknesses that as for now remain a challenge both for the academic research and practice.
The Concept of Social Responsibility in the Business Model of a Company
Foundations of Management, 2016
The article presents a research topic focused on the issues relating to corporate social responsibility (CSR), which is a component of company’s business model. The fact that it is a relatively novel trend in the scope of economics inspired us to raise the aforementioned problem of social responsibility in business, since that area of study is still subject to systematization. The existing interpretation of the concept mainly refers to the questions connected with the commercial sector. CSR is said to be an idea, thanks to which enterprises freely take into account the need for social environmental protection and also relations with various groups of stakeholders at the stage of developing their strategy. Therefore, there is a demand for new scientific studies in that scope. Considering the methodological premises of the article, the author carried out an analysis and evaluation of heating companies in Poland and in Latvia between 2002 and 2014. The analysis was conducted in a dynam...
Components, Theories and the Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility
International Journal of Business and Management Review, 2020
Though the relationship between business and society has been widely studied for decades, there are varying perspectives in the literature of a corporation's responsibility to society, and many corporate managers have struggled with the issue of a corporation's responsibility to a broader range of stakeholders beyond its shareholders. Contemporary advocates of corporate social responsibility (CSR) argue that business organizations have a responsibility not only to their respective shareholders but also to other stakeholders, such as, employees, customers' suppliers, and the community in general, among others. However, a conservative view of corporate social responsibility (CSR) suggests that the only true purpose of a corporation is to generate maximum profits and promote the interests of its shareholders within the law by responding effectively to market demand through the production of goods or services. Though there is no singular universally accepted definition of CSR in the literature, in this descriptive and theoretical research paper, I synthesize the literature and identify many different forms of definitions of CSR from the point of view of various researchers. In this paper, I also attempt to further the theoretical debate about corporate social responsibility (CSR) by highlighting the main components and theories of CSR in the literature. Thereafter, I articulate the business case for CSR or the justification why business executives may be motivated to allocate resources to engage in CSR activities. I conclude this paper by outlining its contributions.
Corporate Social Responsibility: Rewriting the Relationship between Business and Society
The relationship between business and society has witnessed a dramatic change in the past few years. Globalization, ethical consumerism, environmental concerns, strict government regulations, and growing strength of the civil society, are all factors that forced businesses to reconsider their role in society; accordingly there has been a surge of notions that tries to explain this new complex relation between business and society. This paper aims at accentuating this evolving relation by focusing on the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). It differentiates between CSR and other related concepts such as business ethics and corporate philanthropy. It analyzes the different arguments in the CSR debate, pinpoints mechanisms adopted by businesses in carrying out their social responsibilities, and concludes with the link between corporate social responsibility and sustainable development.
The International Journal of Business and Management, 2020
Introduction Globally, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an evolving concept and complex, without a clear and agreed-on definition, meaning different things to different culture or people (Chikwe, 2012). It encapsulates a whole broad area, involving corporate commitments, ethical conducts, legal considerations, socioeconomic imperatives, philanthropic gestures, operational environment imperatives and the likes. However, CSR describes a set of corporate obligations and practices somewhere in the spectrum between traditional charitable giving and meeting up socioeconomic demands and environmental sustainability on one hand, and merely strict compliance with laws on the other. CSR as a management concept is also variously viewed as a concept that covers a wide variety of business and environmental issues relating to plant location and technicalities, employee relations, socioeconomic concerns, human rights, ethics, corporate-community relations and environment (Enahoro, Akiuyemi and Olutoye, 2013). CSR can also be described as the variety of interactive issues revolving around business organization and society or community environment where the corporations operate. Relatedly, Surdyk (2006) succinctly expressed that, while the CSR operating definition remain elusive, the term CSR generally refers to a company's efforts to explicitly include social and environmental concerns in its decision-making along with a commitment to increasing the organization's positive impact on society. As similarly posited, CSR enhances the building of social welfare beyond profitability, as well as developing loyalty and corporate reputation, and at the end serves as a building block for competitive advantage (Arvidson, 2010; Ormiston and Wong, 2013). The mindset of classical CSR revolves around Milton Friedman's conception and theory that what corporation owe society is only efficient economic responsibility, while governments owe the social ends (Arvidson, 2010; Freedman and Dmytriyev, 2017). In relation to our present CSR study direction, a theory can be viewed as an explanation of some phenomena (e.g., corporate social responsibility imperatives), and it consists of principles that state relationships observed in association with that phenomenon (Blaylock, 1971; Hodge, Anthony and Gales, 1998). A theory is a way of thinking, perceiving and analyzing organizations' phenomena. Theory belongs to the family of words that include, guess, speculation, supposition, conjecture, proposition, hypothesis, conception, explanation and model (Weick, 2005, in Smith and Hitt, 2005). A theory in general guides and provides knowledge base and understanding of the basic relationships derivable from various knowledge-based disciplines. In brief, theory guides practices. Theory emanates from a Greek word, theoria,which means, viewing or contemplating. Theory deals with a contemplative body of ideas; a sort of rational kind of abstract, generalizing
Social Responsibility Business as a Modern form of Business Ethics
2018
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) only recently found its foothold in the businesses, therefore there is not a single definition that would describe what the business social responsibility really is. That is why the authors choose to illustrate the numerous definitions of this notion that are present in subject literature. In the light of the growing importance of corporate social responsibility many organizations and institutions, both on national and international level, took measures to promote this idea. Further section of the paper is devoted to those initiatives. In summary: the authors discuss the topic of CSR development in Poland. The origin of this idea in our country dates back to 2001, to the Global Compact initiative. Ever since then there are actions aiming at developing this idea, both on governmental and NGO levels, as we have since witnessed the creation of NGOs promoting the CSR idea in our country. What is also worth stressing is the presence of one of world's few RESPECT stock exchange indexes, which indicate corporate involvement in CSR. The paper aims to explain business social responsibility. The study uses the descriptive methods. It consists of isolating and describing the respective approaches to business social responsibility.
INTERACTIONS BETWEEN BUSINESS AND SOCIETY–CSR AND ITS NEEDED CONTEXTUALIZATION
2012
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a buzzword those days. The concept of CSR and its contemporary form and consequences have generated in the last few years a dense and rich literature (for a recent and exhaustive overview see Segerlund 2010, see also Gilbert et al. 2010, den Hond et al. 2007, Matten and Moon 2007, Acquier 2007, Crane et al. 2007, Chapple and Moon 2005, Garriga and Melé 2004). On the whole, this literature has focused upon the diffusion of organizational and/or institutional practices and processes characteristic, in one way or another, of the contemporary trend of corporate social responsibility – over the last forty years or so at the most. Hence, we have learnt about the diffusion of the practice of corporate and industry codes of conduct, about the (limited) expansion of socially responsible investment, or about the contemporary structuration and professionalization of an increasingly transnational field if not transnational community around this notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (consultants, non-governmental organizations or NGOs, international organizations, socially responsible funds and fund managers, civil society groups, etc….). The objective, in this paper, is to propose a re-contextualization of corporate social responsibility. This re-contextualization will go in two main directions. First, we underscore the powerful elective affinities between contemporary CSR on the one hand and neoliberal globalization and its governance on the other. It sometimes appears as if the notion of a social responsibility of firms or business is a new phenomenon. In fact, there might even be a temptation to associate causally this “new” development with contemporary globalization. Naturally, the notion of a social responsibility of economic actors and organizations is not new. Hence, we also underscore the need for a second kind of re-contextualization, one that goes through the taking of some historical distance. Working on the historical contextualization of this notion should allow us to better understand the specificities of the contemporary explosion of corporate social responsibility. To do this, I will compare the contemporary CSR trend to two alternative patterns of Business/Society interactions – paternalism on the one hand and the welfare state on the other. Through the comparison, we should be able to deconstruct the explicit and implicit ethical frames that lie behind the contemporary social responsibility trend and to assess some of its concrete implications.
In this review, the primary subject is the 'business case' for corporate social responsibility (CSR). The business case refers to the underlying arguments or rationales supporting or documenting why the business community should accept and advance the CSR 'cause'. The business case is concerned with the primary question: What do the business community and organizations get out of CSR? That is, how do they benefit tangibly from engaging in CSR policies, activities and practices? The business case refers to the bottom-line financial and other reasons for businesses pursuing CSR strategies and policies. In developing this business case, the paper first provides some historical background and perspective. In addition, it provides a brief discussion of the evolving understandings of CSR and some of the long-established, traditional arguments that have been made both for and against the idea of business assuming any responsibility to society beyond profit-seeking and maximizing its own financial wellbeing. Finally, the paper addresses the business case in more detail. The goal is to describe and summarize what the business case means and to review some of the concepts, research and practice that have come to characterize this developing idea.