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Corporate Social Responsibility

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Living Dangerously in Two Worlds In my paper I will be discussing the topics related to corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility (CSR, also called corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, and responsible business) is a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders, as well as the environment. This obligation is seen to extend beyond the statutory obligation to comply with legislation and sees organizations voluntarily taking further steps to improve the quality of life for employees and their families as well as for the local community and …show more content…

Marks and Spencer is also active in this community through the building of a trade network with the community - guaranteeing regular fair-trade purchases. Often alternative approaches to this are the establishment of education facilities for adults, as well as HIV/AIDS education programmers. The majority of these CSR projects are established in Africa. A more common approach of CSR is through the giving of aid to local organizations and impoverished communities in developing countries. Some organizations do not like this approach as it does not help build on the skills of the local people, whereas community-based development generally leads to more sustainable development. Some nations require CSR reporting, though agreement on meaningful measurements of social and environmental performance is difficult. Many companies now produce externally audited annual reports that cover Sustainable Development and CSR issues, but the reports vary widely in format, style, and evaluation methodology. Critics dismiss these reports as lip service, citing examples such as Enron 's yearly "Corporate Responsibility Annual Report" and tobacco corporations ' social reports. Business Benefits The scale and nature of the benefits of CSR for an organization can vary depending on the nature of the enterprise, and are difficult to quantify, though there is a large body of literature exhorting business to

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