CONCEPTS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Bauer claims that “corporate social responsibility means seriously considering the impact
of the company’s actions on society. Davis and Blomstrom, on the other hand, define corporate
social responsibility as the “obligation of decision makers to take actions which protect and
improve the welfare of the society as a whole along with their own interests.”

McGuire, on his part says that, “the idea of social responsibility supposes that the
corporation has not only economic and legal obligations, but also certain responsibilities to
society which extend beyond these obligations.” While Epstein maintains that corporate social
responsibility is that which “relates primarily to achieving outcomes from organizational
decisions concerning specific issues or problems which have beneficial rather than adverse
effects upon pertinent corporate stakeholders.”

Among the different definitions of social responsibility, two more definitions are given
emphasis―Professor Keith Davis of Arizona State University defines social responsibility as
“the response of the corporation to issues beyond its narrow economic, technical, and legal
requirements. It is the obligation of the corporation to evaluate the effects of its decisions on the
external social system.”

However, Peter Drucker says that “the first responsibility to society is to operate at a
profit…Business is the wealth-creating organ of society. But what is important is that
management realizes that it must consider the impact of every business policy and business
action on society.”

Yet, truthfully speaking, CSR doesn’t have a universal definition. It remained as a

concept that has developed an emerging prevalence around the globe. It is said that business is as
old as the human civilization; conversely, corporate social responsibility is an evolving term that
does not have standard definition.