Essay on Corporate social responsibility

Submitted By mazeem03
Words: 1812
Pages: 8
Open Document
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly discussed and recognized as essential as to existence of the corporations. In this contemporary world corporations are expected to report not only their accounting profits but also their social and environmental responsibility. Corporate social responsibility reporting is an emerging field at the global level, which is on its way of gaining its position as a mandatory business practice. However many of the organizations are still not reporting their social responsibility and others that are reporting only disclose the positive aspects and never talk about damages caused by their actions to society and environment. The upcoming sections will discuss this hypothesis in details.

The substantiveinfluence of corporations over the country’s economyenables them to influence the political actions and ultimately the regulations for accountability. The political bodies normally dependon large corporations to fund their campaign; hence the unbiased and neutral legislation as well as their implementation on behalf of government agencies is questionable.In such a scenario corporationsdo not feel the need to publish high quality CSR reportssince there are no checks and balances that could penalize them for doing so. An important finding is observed at this point, that is, “measures of stakeholder power, strategic posture, and economic performance are significantly related to levels of corporate social disclosure” (Robin, 1992).

The voluntary nature of CSR reporting and lack of pubic regulations allows large corporationsto select and disclose only the optimistic information while at the same time ignore any negative aspects on society and environment that results from a company’s operations. Therefore, the reliability of the CSR is deemed to be biased in favor of corporation’sprofit motivated objectives including gaining society’s support or consumer acceptability.

The spread out of large corporation across the borders during 1990 established the need for corporate social responsibility reporting to encounter the uncountable power of international business conglomerates and its influence on environment and society (Kaplan and David, 2007). The very objective of CSR is to disclose the social and environmental effects of corporations on the community, society and stakeholders at large and how the corporations are complying with their social responsibilities. However, most of the CSR reports only portray the glowing picture and ignore the negative side effects of the corporation’s operation on society and environment.

The government power and its influence in developing countries are relatively low therefore their legislative policies are more of accommodating nature instead of controlling large corporations (Murtha &Lenway, 1994). The stakeholders, society and environment in developing countries are more exposed to biased and irrelevant CSR reporting. Consequently the CSR reports are aimed to gain positive image by publishing the self-congratulatory news and exclude relevant bad news about company operations.

Corporations publish their sustainability and environmental reports on voluntary basis and this practice gained importance in recent decades and most of the business started reporting on their own. As corporate social responsibility is not mandatory hence no authentic regulations or legislations by the government or international bodies were introduced. Therefore, biased or non-reporting of corporate social responsibility does not place any legal binding on corporations and cannot be blamed or liable.The number of non-disclosing firms can be significant (e.g., 36% of the companies in the Clarkson et al., 2008 sample).

In addition to the above, non-mandatory nature of corporate social responsibility reporting has provided firms with flexibility in making their own decisions regarding what should and what should not be
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on Corporate social responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility: What is it? In essence, corporate responsibility entails the operation of a business in such a way that it (business owners) bears responsibility – or accounts – for the environmental or social impacts that arise as a result of its creation. Socially responsible businesses not only develop policies that incorporate responsible “Do's and Don’ts” into their everyday business operations, they also report on the progress made toward the implementation of these practices…

Words 1080 - Pages 5

Corporate Social Responsibility

consumer behaviors in particular regions. In this article, one of the most important factors, corporate social responsibility (CSR) will be evaluated critically. This essay is beginning with the literature review about the definition of corporate social responsibilities as well as its role in contemporary corporate management. Then it will be followed by the costs and benefits of corporate social responsibilities to the companies as well as the external community which includes local economic development…

Words 2272 - Pages 10

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

Will Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) continue to be ignored as businesses try to get out of the economic crisis? Corporate social responsibility is an important feature of the business environment. It involves the commitment that businesses make in order to improve the local community, the quality of their workforce and behave ethically However, the definition of Corporate Social Responsibility can be argued because it has changed over the centuries. A challenging view of Corporate Social…

Words 518 - Pages 3

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility is a corporate incentive to assess the company’s effect on the environment and social welfare and take responsibility for the impact it makes. Corporate social responsible corporations go above the required regulations and want to improve and better the environment or world. This kind of responsibility includes possibly adding extra costs to create positive social and environmental change. Businesses that practice corporate social…

Words 747 - Pages 3

The Importance Of Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a business approach that contributes to sustainable development by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for all stakeholders. CSR is a idea with many definition and practices. The way it is understand and implement differs greatly for each company and country. Moreover, CSR is a very broad concept that address many and a variety of topics such as human rights, corporate governance, health and safety, environmental…

Words 1034 - Pages 5

Corporate Social Responsibility In Business

date, the concept of corporate social responsibility has grown to be an unconscious practice not entirely under the regulations of any official laws or legal bodies but more as a custom that an organization should practice and obey. In Nigeria, quite a number of publicly quoted companies tends to view corporate social responsibility as a strategic issue. By engaging in corporate social responsibility activities, corporations will gain better recognition as responsible corporate citizens from the perspective…

Words 1269 - Pages 6

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

CSR is an important consideration in operations management: Corporate social responsibility is the responsibility for businesses actions to be based on respect for people, the community and the broader environment. Corporate social responsibility affects the business in a large number of ways including its profitability, self image and place in the future. In today’s society, a positive outlook on Corporate Social Responsibility in all companies is not only respected, but expected. In the 1980’s…

Words 552 - Pages 3

Essay on Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility should be very important to any business. It allows a business to be in compliance with social norms that may not be illegal if not followed. According to Halbert and Ingulli (2012), “Most businesses will strive to be ethical in order to stay out of crisis management mode…” (p. 36). However Halbert and Ingulli continue to insinuate, that if the pressure is high enough for the bottom line to be more profitable, some business will forgo their social responsibilities…

Words 1194 - Pages 5

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Assignment #4, Learning Unit 3: Activity 1 Billey Thomas Lincoln Memorial University Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility I believe that Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility is just a good practice of doing unto others what and how you would have them do unto you. Every ethnicity and era practiced a set of basic ethics and beliefs based upon their faith tradition or locality. I do not believe that just because a person considers themselves…

Words 908 - Pages 4

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

(Mullerat, 2010). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) provides one such alternative strategy. Despite its cost implications, CSR can be a source of opportunities, can enhance a company’s innovation, and act as a source of competitive leverage. This paper provides a discussion of these benefits in an effort to point out the potential benefits of adopting CSR strategies - extant literature and examples will help to elaborate these benefits. Dahlsrud (2006) defines CSR as a social construct determined…

Words 1684 - Pages 7