Define corporate social responsibility (CSR), and explain the difference between philanthropy and strategic CSR.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the notion that business has obligations to society beyond the pursuit of profits. There is a widespread assumption these days that CSR is both a moral imperative for business and a good thing for society, but the issues aren’t quite as clear as they might seem at first glance.

corporate social responsibility (CSR) The idea that business has obligations to society beyond the pursuit of profits

What does business owe society, and what does society owe business? Any attempt to understand and shape this relationship needs to consider four essential truths: ● Consumers in contemporary societies enjoy and expect a wide range of benefits, from education and health care to credit and products that are safe to use.

• Profit-seeking companies are the economic engine that powers modern society; they generate the vast majority of the money in a nation’s economy, either directly (through their own taxes and purchases) or indirectly (through the taxes and purchases made by the employees they support).
• ● Much of what we consider when assessing a society’s standard of living involves goods and services created by profit-seeking companies.
• ● Conversely, companies cannot hope to operate profitably without the many benefits provided by a stable, functioning society: talented and healthy employees, a legal framework in which to pursue commerce, a dependable transportation infrastructure, opportunities to raise money, and customers with the ability to pay for goods and services, to name just some of them.