Corporate Social Responsibility


The Origins of Corporate Social Responsibility

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) already began in the mid-twentieth century when people from the business world and research started to discuss the social responsibility of companies. At the time, the discussion focussed primarily on the social contribution (charity, labour issues) that companies could make to society. Since the mid-1990s, there has also been increasing discussion on ecological issues within the context of CSR.


CSR in Europe

At the beginning of 2000, the European Union (EU) took up the idea of the social responsibility of companies, realising that CSR is a chance to encourage companies to make voluntary contributions to social and ecological sustainability outside the regulatory framework. The EU green paper on CSR demands that environmental protection and social interests should be given equal attention and states clearly that CSR should contribute to the implementation of strategic goals set by the EU (Lisbon 2000) and its sustainability strategies (Gothenburg 2001).

In 2002, the EU set up the European Multi Stakeholder Forum on CSR which represents environmental and social NGOs and business associations. Their aim was to reach consensus on CSR and come up with joint recommendations for the promotion and advancement of CSR. The multi stakeholders' final report was presented in July 2004 and the Commission will publish a follow-up communication on CSR in 2005.


CSR and Sustainable Development

The sustainable development concept originated from environmental protection. At the UN-Summit in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, sustainable development was established politically as a model concept for global society, i.e. at the macro level. It was not until the mid-1990s that the transferral of this concept to companies (micro level) was first considered. Today, the issues dealt with in CSR and sustainable development overlap and these were systematically examined probably for the first time by Loew et al (2004).

A Clear Definition of CSR

At the moment there is an abundance of terms related to CSR, sustainable business management and corporate citizenship along with various interpretations of individual definitions due to different historical origins. These terms are often incorrectly used as synonyms or are used with very different meanings.

Loew et al (2004) have developed a system of terms and definitions which integrates the official definitions from the EU and the Rio-Summit, according to which CSR is a central component of sustainable business management. Both, CSR and sustainable business management contribute to sustainable development.

Corporate citizenship (CC) encompasses donations, company contributions and corporate volunteering and should be seen as only a part of CSR. It should be noted that corporate citizenship and CSR are often given equal status in the US debate, which is not correct from the European point of view (Loew et al. 2004).


Sources

The sources quoted are available from:

Loew T, Ankele K, Braun S, Clausen J (2004)
Bedeutung der internationalen CSR-Diskussion für Nachhaltigkeit und die sich daraus ergebenden Anforderungen an Unternehmen mit Fokus Berichterstattung <Significance of the CSR Debate for Sustainability and the Requirements for Companies with the Focus on Reporting, Berlin (German final report, English summary - without references)

Loew T (2004):
Internationale Development der Regulierungen zur Förderung ökologisch-ethischer Finanzdienstleistungen, <International Development of Regulations to Promote Socially Responsible Investment>, in German with English summary). IÖW-Discussion Paper DP56/02, Berlin (download: www.ioew.de/home/downloaddateien/DP5602.pdf)


Further Information

European Commission's pages on CSR
http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/soc-dial/csr/csr_index.htm

EU Multi Stakeholder Forum http://forum.europa.eu.int/irc/empl/
csr_eu_multi_stakeholder_forum/info/data/en/csr%20ems%20forum.htm

CSR Europe http://www.csreurope.org

CSR Germany http://www.csrgermany.de
Federal German Industry Association (BDI) Opinion on CSR
http://www.bdi-online.de/de/fachabteilungen/1760.htm

Round Table on Codes of Conduct (initiated by the Ministry of Development and Economic Co-operation) http://www.coc-runder-tisch.de

Business in the Community (BITC) http://www.bitc.org.uk/index.html

Christian Aid, criticising CSR http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/news/media/pressrel/040121p.htm

Further information on CSR and Corporate Sustainability

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