Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is on a Sustainable Trajectory

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is here to stay in its present or slightly modified format. CSR has been stable and growing since the 1960s. CSR has been defined in a multitude of ways over the years. In my ownframework, CSR is defined broadly to encompass the economic, legal, ethical andphilanthropic expectations placed on businesses by society. CSR’s progress in the 2000s may appear to be moderate in light of pressing economic pressures, but it also is contending with competing and complimentary frameworks and socially conscious nomenclature.

Some of the alternative concepts embracing CSR include corporate citizenship, corporate stewardship, business ethics, stakeholder management, conscious capitalism, creating shared value, and sustainability. These concepts represent the principal variations of CSR striving for worldwideattention and adoption. These frameworks are all interrelated and overlapping and are integral to some facet of CSR. Though there are slight nuances in the differing language of each, at heart they are all focusing on business firms helping to improve society and stakeholders while at the same time sustaining their own profitability.