Corporate Social Responsibility and Globalisation

Is corporate social responsibility a new business trend or perhaps a breeding ground competitive advantage? It definitely is the buzzword of the early 21st century business. The impact of business on the social and natural environment has been more or less under discussion for the past 40 years but just lately it has become the most topical issue in business environment. Investors, academics, NGOs and business consultants are all talking about corporate social responsibility. The concept Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be used as an umbrella term for a range of terms such as corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, accountability, transparency, triple bottom line management, sustainability, reputation management and people, planet & profit (Kokko 2002, 69). According to Berthoin, Dierkes, MacMillan & Marz (2003, 27) the CSR issue has recently had three significant developments. Firstly, international organisations have launched CSR initiatives such as GRI and EU Green Paper to promote socially responsible behaviour and social reporting. Secondly, the concept “triple bottom line” (TBL) was introduced to focus the corporations not just on the economic value they add, but also on the environmental and social value they add and destroy. Thirdly, the investors have realised that the value of their investment portfolio may fall if companies act in a socially irresponsible manner. Thus we can infer that there is a growing need for companies to incorporate CSR into their business strategy and everyday business behaviour.
The purpose of this paper is to obtain knowledge of CSR in global business environment. [...]