Query: corporate social responsibility

title: Strategy and society: the link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility.
abstract: Governments, activists, and the media have become adept at holding companies to account for the social consequences of their actions. In response, corporate social responsibility has emerged as an inescapable priority for business leaders in every country. Frequently, though, CSR efforts are counterproductive, for two reasons. First, they pit business against society, when in reality the two are interdependent. Second, they pressure companies to think of corporate social responsibility in generic ways instead of in the way most appropriate to their individual strategies. The fact is, the prevailing approaches to CSR are so disconnected from strategy as to obscure many great opportunities for companies to benefit society. What a terrible waste. If corporations were to analyze their opportunities for social responsibility using the same frameworks that guide their core business choices, they would discover, as Whole Foods Market, Toyota, and Volvo have done, that CSR can be much more than a cost, a constraint, or a charitable deed it can be a potent source of innovation and competitive advantage. In this article, Michael Porter and Mark Kramer propose a fundamentally new way to look at the relationship between business and society that does not treat corporate growth and social welfare as a zero sum game. They introduce a framework that individual companies can use to identify the social consequences of their actions; to discover opportunities to benefit society and themselves by strengthening the competitive context in which they operate; to determine which CSR initiatives they should address; and to find the most effective ways of doing so. Perceiving social responsibility as an opportunity rather than as damage control or a PR campaign requires dramatically different thinking a mind set, the authors warn, that will become increasingly important to competitive success.

title: The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders
abstract: F or the better part of 30 years now, corporate executives have struggled with the issue of the firm's responsibility to its society. Early on it was argued by some that the corporation's sole responsibility was to provide a maximum financial return to shareholders. It became quickly apparent to everyone, however, that this pursuit of financial gain had to take place within the laws of the land. Though social activist groups and others throughout the 1960s advocated a broader notion of corporate responsibility, it was not until the significant social legislation of the early 1970s that this message became indelibly clear as a result of the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)

title: Corporate Social Responsibility: a Theory of the Firm Perspective
abstract: We outline a supply and demand model of corporate social responsibility (CSR) Based on this framework, we hypothesize that a firm's level of CSR will depend on its size, level of diversification, research and development, advertising, government sales, consumer income, labor market conditions, and stage in the industry life cycle. From these hypotheses, we conclude that there is an "ideal" level of CSR, which managers can determine via cost benefit analysis, and that there is a neutral relationship between CSR and financial performance.

title: Corporate Social Responsibility
abstract: There is an impressive history associated with the evolution of the concept and definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR) In this article, the author traces the evolution of the CSR construct beginning in the 1950s, which marks the modern era of CSR. Definitions expanded during the 1960s and proliferated during the 1970s. In the 1980s, there were fewer new definitions, more empirical research, and alternative themes began to mature. These alternative themes included corporate social performance (CSP) stakeholder theory, and business ethics theory. In the 1990s, CSR continues to serve as a core construct but yields to or is transformed into alternative thematic frameworks.

title: 'Implicit' and 'Explicit' CSR: A Conceptual Framework for a Comparative Understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility
abstract: We address the question of how and why corporate social responsibility (CSR) differs among countries and how and why it changes. Applying two schools of thought in institutional theory we conceptualize, first, the differences between CSR in the USA and Europe and, second, the recent rise of CSR in Europe. We also delineate the potential of our framework for application to other parts of the global economy.

title: Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries as an Emerging Field of Study
abstract: Given the rising interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) globally, its local expressions are as varied as they are increasingly visible in both developed and developing countries. This paper presents a multilevel review of the literature on CSR in developing countries and highlights the key differentiators and nuanced CSR related considerations that qualify it as a distinctive field of study. This review entails a content analysis of 452 articles spanning two and a half decades (1990 2015) Based on this comprehensive review, the authors identify the key differentiating attributes of the literature on CSR in developing countries in relation to depictions of how CSR is conceived or 'CSR Thinking' and depictions of how CSR is practiced and implemented or 'CSR Doing' The authors synthesize from there five key themes that capture the main aspects of variation in this literature, namely: (1) complex institutional antecedents within the national business system (NBS) (2) complex macro level antecedents outside the NBS; (3) the salience of multiple actors involved in formal and informal governance; (4) hybridized and other nuanced forms of CSR expressions; and (5) varied scope of developmental and detrimental CSR consequences. The paper concludes by accentuating how the nuanced forms of CSR in the developing world are invariably contextualized and locally shaped by multi level factors and actors embedded within wider formal and informal governance systems.

title: Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? an institutional theory of corporate social responsibility
abstract: I offer an institutional theory of corporate social responsibility consisting of a series of propositions specifying the conditions under which corporations are likely to behave in socially responsible ways. I argue that the relationship between basic economic conditions and corporate behavior is mediated by several institutional conditions: public and private regulation, the presence of nongovernmental and other independent organizations that monitor corporate behavior, institutionalized norms regarding appropriate corporate behavior, associative behavior among corporations themselves, and organized dialogues among corporations and their stakeholders. Concerns about corporate social responsibility have grown significantly during the last two decades. Not only has the issue become commonplace in the business press and among business and political leaders (Buhr Graf

title: What We Know and Don't Know About Corporate Social Responsibility
abstract: The authors review the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature based on 588 journal articles and 102 books and book chapters. They offer a multilevel and multidisciplinary theoretical framework that synthesizes and integrates the literature at the institutional, organizational, and individual levels of analysis. The framework includes reactive and proactive predictors of CSR actions and policies and the outcomes of such actions and policies, which they classify as primarily affecting internal (i.e. internal outcomes) or external (i.e. external outcomes) stakeholders. The framework includes variables that explain underlying mechanisms (i.e. relationship and value based mediator variables) of CSR outcomes relationships and contingency effects (i.e. people place price and profile based moderator variables) that explain conditions under which the relationship between CSR and its outcomes change. The authors' review reveals important knowledge gaps related to the adoption of different theoretical orientations by researchers studying CSR at different levels of analysis, the need to understand underlying mechanisms linking CSR with outcomes, the need for research at micro levels of analysis (i.e. individuals and teams) and the need for methodological approaches that will help address these substantive knowledge gaps. Accordingly, they offer a detailed research agenda for the future, based on a multilevel perspective that aims to integrate diverse theoretical frameworks as well as develop an understanding of underlying mechanisms and microfoundations of CSR (i.e. foundations based on individual action and interactions) The authors also provide specific suggestions regarding research design, measurement, and data analytic approaches that will be instrumental in carrying out their proposed research agenda.

title: Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Corporate Financial Performance: A Competitive Action Perspective
abstract: We attempt to provide a more nuanced view of the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm financial performance using a competitive action perspective. We argue that competitive action should be considered as an important contingency that determines the effects of CSR activities on firm financial performance. Using data for 113 publicly listed U.S. firms in the software industry between 2000 and 2005, we found that socially responsible activities (positive CSR) enhance firm financial performance when the firm's competitive action level is high, whereas socially irresponsible activities (negative CSR) actually improve firm financial performance when the competitive action level is low. By introducing competitive action as an important contingency, this study contributes to the literature on CSR and strategic management.

title: The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review of Concepts, Research and Practice
abstract: 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 well being. 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.