Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi [626761]

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
Business Administration
3 ​ rd ​ Year
Ibanescu Raluca-Elena

CSR – Home assignment

1. Define the concept of ​ Corporate Social Responsibility. ​ Explain the concept ​ of Triple Bottom Line.

The ​ Corporate Social Responsibility concept can be defined in different ways such as “the company’s
responsibilities to be fair and honest, trustworthy and respectful, in dealing with all our constituents”
(Johnson and Johnson, 2000) or as the Volkswagen’s representant defined it in 2000 – “the ability of a
company to incorporate its responsibility to society to develop solutions for economic and social
problems”. How business actually define CSR is “the ethical behavior of a company towards society”
(The World Business Council for Sustainable Development), a behavior that helps companies to
improve their marketing strategies and creates a positive link with a firm’s performance. The CSR
projects that a company develops have a highly contribution in the increasing or decreasing of the
customer’s willingness to purchase the company’s products. However, the CSR activities that companies
have represent their status towards “economic, legal, ethical and discretionary expectations that society
has of organizations at a given point in time” (Carroll, 1979).

The Triple Bottom Line is a concept based on sustainability that corporations and their shareholders have
towards economic prosperity, social equity and quality of the environment. Hart (1997) argues that
“only corporations have the resources, global reach and motivation to achieve sustainability” while the
“roots of the world’s sustainability crisis are social and political”. It is said that TBL provides a language
that makes sense of the sustainable projects to a population focused on the economic bottom line. There
are two methods of explaining the Triple Bottom Line concept – as a management tool or as a reporting
tool. The first one highlights concepts such as monetization, externalization and tracking of
non-financial data in order to create an accounting perspective which is important for the internal
corporate decisions because it relates to financial, social or environmental performance. The TBT
approach to environmental cost accounting is “to identify where a company is in terms of its
environmental impacts, to determine appropriate “sustainability” targets or standards to aim for, and to
work out the most cost-effective way for the company to close that “sustainability gap” (Howes, 2002).
The major challenges in accounting for the environmental aspect of TBI were outlined by Bennett and
James (1998). In this way we found challenges like “tracking environmental costs that get lost in
overheads using activity-based accounting”; “identifying hidden environmental costs that are often
considerable”; “allocating production environmental emission costs” or “using financial information that
may be less useful than non-financial information for day-to-day management”. Environment-related

management accounting is seen as a demonstration of the impact on the income statement and the
identification of cost-reduction and other improvement opportunities relating to future proof
investments, customer value enhanced and sustainable businesses support. The ​ second method of
explaining TBL – as a reporting tool comes with the image of a qualitative information reported to
society. There is no comprehensive legislation concerned with accounting, reporting and auditing of
TBL; however, Sullivan and Wyndham (2001) discovered an Australian survey where it was found that
“legal requirements were cited as the most important driving force for addressing environmental issues”
with the conclusion that “mandatory reporting on ethical, environmental and social issues will become a
reality within ten years” (Hayward, 2002) which seems to be true now in the present, when 15 years
passed after the previous statement. As a result, there appears to be tension between stakeholder
engagement for TBL reporting and the comparability and consistency opportunities that come with
standardization of reporting, taking into consideration that “strategic issue in order to ensure consistency
and balance between the business strategy, the environmental strategy and the reporting activities”.
The Triple Bottom Line is thought to be “absolutely crucial” for the government's role in promoting the
kind of sustainable, responsible and wealth creation. Furthermore, it is considered that through the
inherently inadequate device of TBL reporting there are created more responsible business behaviour.
What about the result of a real TBL report? The result would be an annual report of a company
comprising equal sections on financial, social and environmental accountability. A Triple Bottom Line
report that was "honest and complete" would "expose" the tension and the fact the "financial does – and
must – dominate" and this is why it may be a "necessary condition for sustainability reporting"
(Earthscan).

2. Explain how issues of social responsibility affect businesses – advantages and disadvantages, pros and
cons.

In accordance with W. Timothy Coombs and Sherry J. Holladay's book, there are three overarching
concerns that managers must consider when deciding to become involved in the CSR process:
1. The need to align stakeholder concerns with the strategic concerns of the corporation.
2. The need for tangible gains for stakeholders' concerns, not symbolic actions that simply appear
to make the world a better place.
3. The importance of perceived justice in the CSR process.

1.The first issue refers to benefits that a company might have in developing CSR projects. Many
companies choose to involve in this kind of projects because of their expectations regarding their
reputation and their customers' willingness to buy their products or services. Their concern is not just
about the improvement of the society but also it is about how their customers and stakeholders perceive
their actions, by worrying "about the return on investment". In order to align stakeholder concerns with
the strategic concerns of the corporation, it is more effective when it is integrated into their business
strategy because in this way they would not be ignored by stakeholders and the possibility of producing
benefits to the corporation would increase.

● Advantages:
○ Improving employee morale ​ by contributing to society's improvement
○ Creating a more ​ favorable reputation for the company in the customers and potential
customers' eyes, but also in the eyes of stakeholders or possible future investors/partners
○ As an effect of the second advantage would be the ​ increase of sales because CSR
projects will attract either potential clients or potential investors/partners
○ Reducing operating costs

● Disadvantages:
○ CSR initiative is not salient to stakeholders because is not part of their concerns
regarding the corporation
○ As an effect of the first disadvantage, if the ​ stakeholders ignore the CSR process, there
would be ​ no benefits produced to the corporation because of the ​ lack of support from
stakeholders' point of view

2. The second aspect related to tangible gains instead of symbolic actions is presented as an illusion of
addressing environmental or social concerns when no substantive actions are taken or benefits are
accrued. As previously said in point 1., for stakeholders the CSR projects involvement is important if
they have an interest in getting some benefits after all. Without benefits, they might lose interest and
CSR projects get to be a waste of time from their perspective. Although, if we are talking about benefits,
we have to make sure they are for real (stated as tangible) and do not remain a verbal thing at the
intangible level (stated as symbolic actions).

● Advantages:
○ CSR initiative have to demonstrate it actually makes a ​ positive difference for
stakeholders – if this happen, the corporation will get a competitive advantage towards
the others and also the support of their stakeholders who will trust in the process if they
see the relevance of participating in the decision making process of the CSR initiative
○ CSR initiatives need to be ​ judged on their results, not their promises or appearances ​ .
This is considered an advantage because in this way it is assured there will be a
qualitative project in which everyone will be efficient and preoccupied to bring a positive
impact towards the company and society. Based on the CSR results, stakeholders will
analyse how much effort the company put in the process of growth and also it is
important for the ​ future projects’ decisions ​ regarding the involvement, trust and votes.

● Disadvantages:
○ Corporations should ​ report the outcomes produced through the CSR initiatives, even if
those outcomes are ​ less positive than anticipated
○ If a CSR initiative claims to help protect indigenous rights, management should provide
tangible evidence that it delivers on that promise. With other words, it will take more
time for the management team to prove how important is the project by providing
evidences and gaining the trust of the company’s stakeholders.

3. The last issue is about keeping the CSR process honest and transparent. It is important for
stakeholders to know how and why the corporation selected a certain CSR initiative and why CSR
concerns were not selected. There is a significant contribution to perception of justice that only
stakeholder engagement can offer because they contribute to the decision-making process and they have
to be the first ones who understand what the project is about. Moreover, how managers communicate
with stakeholders during the engagement process helps to establish interactional justice.

● Advantages:
○ If the process is ​ consistent and fair ​ , stakeholders will perceive procedural justice
surrounding the CSR process.
○ Management builds ​ interactional justice by treating stakeholders and their ideas with
respect. This aspect will lead to make them willing to accept and support the CSR
initiatives.

● Disadvantages:
○ In the opposite case of the second advantage, if managers would not respect and would
not take into consideration the ideas that stakeholders have, they will confront with a
CSR initiative born of oppose decisions.
○ If the management do not keep an honest and transparent CSR process, the
communication between stakeholders and them will suffer a decline and will born a
trust-issue aspect which is not good for the company at all, the possibility of ending with
getting out of the company being high. Managers should keep on giving a real report of
the process and keep updated people that are interested in this initiative and stakeholders
should keep on tracking them and their solutions found to the problems that might
appear.

3. Identify organizational stakeholders and undertake a stakeholder analysis in terms of their
role/importance in adopting/orienting the CSR strategy ( ​ Stakeholders Mapping ​ ). Show how the concept
of social responsibility applies both to environmental issues and to a firm’s relationships with customers,
employees, and investors.

4. Identify and describe the forms of CSR (read Philip Kotler, Nancy Lee, Corporate Social Responsibility
Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause). Give examples from the companies’
practices.

The book ​ Corporate Social Responsibility Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause
presents six major types of CSR and offers perspectives from professionals in the field on strengths and
weaknesses of each in terms of benefits to the cause and benefits to the company. The six social
initiatives explored are as following:
1. Cause Promotions
2. Cause-Related Marketing
3. Corporate Social Marketing
4. Corporate Philanthropy

5. Community Volunteering
6. Socially Responsible Business Practices

After identifying the initiatives, the next step is to see what means each of them and which are the
advantages and disadvantages that define the importance they have, concluding with an example from
Dell’s practices, being a global company that delivers products and services in more than 190 countries
and having more than 40.000 employees. Major products include enterprise computing products,
desktops, monitors, printers, notebooks, handhelds, software and peripherals. Dell is definitely a good
example because it has a focus on fully integrating improved environmental performance into business
practices and marketing efforts, as well as corporate giving.

1. Cause Promotions – when a corporation provides funds, in-kind contributions or other corporate
resources to increase awareness and concern about a social cause or to support fundraising,
participation or volunteer recruitment for a cause. The corporation may initiate and manage the
promotion on its own (i.e., The Body Shop promoting a ban on the use of animals to test
cosmetics); it may be a major partner in an effort (Aleve sponsoring the Arthritis Foundation's
fundraising walk); or it may be one of several sponsors (Keep America Beautiful 2003 sponsors
for the "Great American Cleanup" included Lysol, PepsiCo, and Firestone Tire & Service
Centers, among others).

● Advantages:
○ Builds corporate reputation
○ Attracts and retains a motivated workforce
○ Supports marketing objectives
○ Builds strong community relationships
○ Leverages current corporate social initiatives

● Disadvantages:
○ Visibility for corporate efforts can easily be lost
○ Coordination with cause partners can be time consuming.
○ Staff time and involvement can be significant.
○ Promotional expenses can be significant.
○ Consumers may be skeptical of corporate motivations and commitment.

Example ​ from companies’ practices:
Dell Recycle – electronic equipment is a fast-growing portion of America’s potential trash, with 250
million computers predicted to become obsolete by 2005. Through Dell’s partnership with the National
Cristina Foundation (NCF), customers can donate computer equipment to charity, do their part to reduce
landfills and possibly receive a tax deduction. NCF is a nonprofit organization that places used
computers and other technology with local nonprofit organizations and public agencies that serve
disabled and economically disadvantaged children and adults.

2. ​ Cause-Related Marketing – the moment when a corporation commits to making a contribution or

donating a percentage of revenues to a specific cause based on product sales. Most commonly this offer
is for an announced period of time, for a specific product, and for a specified charity. In this scenario, a
corporation is most often partnered with a non profit organization, creating a mutually beneficial
relationship designed to increase sales of a particular product and to generate financial support for the
charity (for example, Comcast donates $4.95 of installation fees for its high-speed Internet service to
Ronald McDonald House Charities through the end of a given month). Many think of this as a
win-win-win, as it provides consumers an opportunity to contribute for free to their favorite charities as
well.

● Advantages:
○ Supports marketing objectives
○ Builds strong community relationships
○ Leverages current corporate social initiatives

● Disadvantages:
○ Coordination with cause partners can be time consuming.
○ Staff time and involvement can be significant.
○ Promotional expenses can be significant.
○ Consumers may be skeptical of corporate motivations and commitment.

Example ​ from companies’ practices:
Discounts for recycling online – in an effort to encourage recycling of used equipment, Dell offered a
deal in the summer of 2003: to recycle up to three items of select equipment, such as desktops, monitors,
or notebooks, and get 50% off the regular recycling price per unit. Any brand of computer, keyboard,
mouse, monitor, printer, fax machine, scanner, or speakers were accepted for recycling. The offer also
included a coupon for 10% off any online purchases of software and peripheral products. Preliminary
results suggested as much as 200% increase in orders per day.

3. ​ Corporate Social Marketing – the support of a corporation for the development and/or implementation
of a behavior change campaign intended to improve public health, safety, the environment, or
community well-being. The distinguishing feature is the behavior change focus, which differentiates it
from cause promotions that focus on supporting awareness, fundraising, and volunteer recruitment for a
cause. A corporation may develop and implement a behavior change campaign on its own (i.e., Philip
Morris encouraging parents to talk with their kids about tobacco use), but more often it involves partners
in public sector agencies (Home Depot and a utility promoting water conservation tips) and/or nonprofit
organizations (Pampers and the SIDS Foundation encouraging caretakers to put infants on their backs to
sleep).

● Advantages:
○ Builds corporate reputation
○ Contributes to general business goals
○ Attracts and retains a motivated workforce
○ Supports marketing objectives

○ Builds strong community relationships
○ Leverages current corporate social initiatives

● Disadvantages:
○ Coordination with cause partners can be time consuming.
○ Staff time and involvement can be significant.
○ Efforts may require external expertise.
○ Promotional expenses can be significant.

Example ​ from companies’ practices:
In March 2003, Dell began offering a new product line, printers, and as part of this launch, promoted
their new ​ printer-recycling program ​ . When customers purchase a Dell printer, they can now recycle
their outdated printers at no additional cost and without leaving home. They can put it in the box their
new Dell printer comes in, attach the prepaid shipping label supplied by Dell, and then go online to
arrange for free pickup by Airborne at home or office.

4. ​ Corporate Philanthropy – a corporation makes a direct contribution to a charity or cause, most often
in the form of cash grants, donations and/or inkind services. This initiative is perhaps the most
traditional of all corporate social initiatives and for many decades was approached in a responsive, even
ad hoc manner.

● Advantages:
○ Builds corporate reputation
○ Attracts and retains a motivated workforce
○ Builds strong community relationships
○ Leverages current corporate social initiatives

● Disadvantages:
○ Visibility for corporate efforts can easily be lost.
○ Tracking resource expenditures and value can be difficult and expensive.

Example ​ from companies’ practices:
Dell's ​ "Direct Giving" program gives employees a chance to contribute to the nonprofit of their choice
through payroll deduction. One of the key beneficiaries of employees' generosity over the past few years
is Earth Share of Texas. Earth Share in turn is a funding source for a variety of environmental projects
and organizations.

5. ​ Community Volunteering – the support and encouragement of a corporation to its employees, retail
partners and/or franchise members to volunteer their time to support local community organizations and
causes. This activity may be a stand-alone effort (i.e., employees of a high tech company tutoring youth
in middle schools on computer skills) or it may be done in partnership with a nonprofit organization
(Shell employees working with The Ocean Conservancy on a beach cleanup). Volunteer activities may
be organized by the corporation, or employees may choose their own activities and receive support from

the company through such means as paid time off and volunteer database matching programs.
● Advantages:
○ Builds corporate reputation
○ Attracts and retains a motivated workforce
○ Builds strong community relationships
○ Leverages current corporate social initiatives

● Disadvantages:
○ Visibility for corporate efforts can easily be lost
○ Staff time and involvement can be significant
○ Tracking resource expenditures and value can be difficult and expensive.

Example ​ from companies’ practices:
Dell's ​ "Eco-efficiency Team" is a forum for employees to bring ideas for environmentally oriented
projects for Dell to consider and to then give employees volunteer opportunities in the community.
Employees volunteering at recycling events in Nashville and Austin not only added to the productivity
of the event, but also gave staff exposure to the company's commitment to sustainable activities.

6. ​ Socially Responsible Business Practices – when a corporation adopts and conducts discretionary
business practices and investments that support social causes to improve community well-being and
protect the environment. Initiatives may be conceived of and implemented by the organization (i.e.,
Kraft deciding to eliminate all in-school marketing) or they may be in partnership with others (Starbucks
working with Conservation International to support farmers to minimize impact on their local
environments).

● Advantages:
○ Builds corporate reputation
○ Contributes to business goals
○ Attracts and retains a motivated workforce
○ Reduces operating costs
○ Reduces regulatory oversight
○ Builds strong community relationships
○ Leverages current corporate social initiatives lost

● Disadvantages:
○ Visibility for corporate efforts can easily be lost
○ Efforts may require external expertise
○ Consumers may be skeptical of corporate motivations and commitment.

Example ​ from companies’ practices:
Dell's 2003 Environmental Report articulates their "Design for Environment" program ​ , giving examples
of measures they take in product design to:
a) extend product lifespan;

b) reduce energy consumption;
c) avoid environmentally sensitive materials, particularly those that may have an adverse impact on the
environment at product end-of-life;
d) promote dematerialization (reduced volume of materials in a product);
e) use parts that are capable of being recycled at the highest level.

Dell participates in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ENERGY STAR program to
reduce power consumption of office equipment. The program allows manufacturers to partner with the
EPA to design and certify products that meet or exceed federal government guidelines for low power
consumption. Dell has actively participated in the program since 1993. Dell is also actively working
with resin suppliers to increase the usage of post-consumer recycled-content plastics.

5. Present the CSR Pyramid (A. Caroll) and distinguish the social responsibility from ethics.

There are four categories of social responsibilities which constitute total CSR: economic, legal, ethical
and philanthropic. These components of CSR might be depicted as a pyramid.

1. Economic Responsibilities
The basic role of businesses is to produce goods and services that consumers need and want, making out
of this an acceptable profit in the process. At some point, the idea of the profit motive got transformed
into a notion of maximum profits and this has been an enduring value ever since. From an economic
perspective, it is important to perform in a manner consistent with maximizing earnings per share.
Another aspect is the importance of being committed to being as profitable as possible and to maintain a
strong competitive position. Furthermore, it has to be maintained a high level of operating efficiency
because a successful firm is defined as one that is consistently profitable.

2. Legal Responsibilities
Businesses are expected to comply with the laws and regulations promulgated by federal, state and local
governments as the ground rules under which businesses must operate. Firms are expected to pursue
their economic mission within the framework of the law. They are depicted as the next layer on the
pyramid to portray their historical development, but they are appropriately seen as coexisting with
economic responsibilities as fundamental precepts of the free enterprise system. Legal responsibilities
talks about performing in a manner consistent with expectations of government and law and comply
with various federal, state and local regulations. A successful firm is defined as one that fulfills its legal
obligations and has to provide goods and services that at least meet minimal legal requirements.

3. Ethical Responsibilities
Here are embodied the standards, norms or expectations that reflect a concern for what consumers,
employees, shareholders and the community regard as fair or in keeping with the respect or protection of
stakeholders' moral rights. The business ethics movement of the past decade has firmly established an
ethical responsibility as a legitimate CSR component. It must be constantly recognized that it is in
dynamic interplay with the legal responsibility category, meaning that it is constantly pushing the legal
responsibility to broaden or expand while at the same time placing ever higher expectations on

businesspersons to operate at levels above that required by law. From an ethical perspective, it is
important to perform in a manner consistent with expectations of social mores and ethical norms.
Another aspect is the importance of recognizing and respecting new or evolving ethical moral norms
adopted by society. In addition, it has to be prevented the ethical norms from being compromised in
order to achieve corporate goals. A good corporate citizenship has to be defined as doing what is
expected morally or ethically, its integrity and ethical behavior going beyond mere compliance with
laws and regulations.

4. Philanthropic Responsibilities
Philanthropy encompasses those corporate actions that are in response to society's expectation that
business be good corporate citizens. This includes actively engaging in acts or programs to promote
human welfare or goodwill. Communities desire firms to contribute their money, facilities and employee
time to humanitarian programs or purposes, but they do not regard the firms as unethical if they do not
provide the desired level. Therefore, philanthropy is more discretionary or voluntary on the part of
businesses even though there is always the societal expectation that businesses provide it.
Philanthropic responsibilities relies firstly to perform in a manner consistent with the philanthropic and
charitable expectations of society. It is important to assist the fine and performing arts and furthermore
the fact that managers an employees participate in voluntary and charitable activities within their local
communities. In addition, the responsibilities that cannot be neglected are to provide assistance to
private and public educational institutions and to assist voluntarily those projects that enhance a
community's "quality of life".

The ​ pyramid of corporate social responsibility
portrays the four components of CSR,
beginning with the basic building block notion
that economic performance undergirds all else.
At the same time, business is expected to obey
the law because the law is society's codification
of acceptable an unacceptable behavior. Next is
business's responsibility to be ethical. At its
most fundamental level, this is the obligation to
do what is right, just and fair and to avoid or
minimize harm to stakeholders, employees,
consumers and the environment. Finally, business is expected to be a good corporate citizen. This is
captured in the philanthropic responsibility, wherein business is expected to contribute financial and
human resources to the community and to improve the quality of life.

6. Identify key-issues important (in your opinion) in adopting/orienting the CSR actions/strategy/programs.

In my opinion, there are some important issues that everyone knows about but unfortunately not
everyone is aware of their impact over the world. Being a member of AIESEC, I learned there is no
problem without a solution and the solutions are found by thinking globally and acting locally. In this
way, every single person can become a leader for the world if they answer positively to the open call

that the planet has because behind all these local problems regarding the society that corporations want
to approach stand the real problems of the world – we have to eradicate ​ extreme poverty, reduce
inequalities and climate action ​ . We, as AIESEC members from the entire world identified these issues
and the importance they have and decided to take action in every continent, country, county, city and
villages. How do we intend to contribute? Firstly, by making people realize the importance of the
problems and being aware of the fact that they can help even if through a small step. Secondly, by taking
action locally, by being involved in different activities that will have an impact over the society which
we want and we need to change. We powered the ​ Youth 4 Global Goals program and expose 17 Global
Goals for sustainable development as the world’s largest commitment for a better world. The Goals are
interconnected and have a balance amongst the ​ economic, social and environmental dimensions, the
uniqueness of them being that everyone can find a goal to support and advocate for as they touch upon
every possible aspect of the life of an individual.

These are the 17 Global Goals, each of them being described on the site ​ www.youth4globalgoals.org ​ .

The picture that appears on the right side is a
model of how we can show the world the
reason (the global goal) that we choose to take
action for and it is a public commitment to
advancing it by being an advocate for the
cause. I hope it is not inappropriate the fact
that I used a picture with myself, but I promise
it is because of the fact that I want to show
how important CSR really is for me and for
people that are next to me day by day.
Talking about corporations, there is the 17th
Global Goal – ​ Partnerships for the Goals ​ ,
which encourages corporations to get involved
in these actions by creating a partnership with
them and “fight” together with young people
who are ready to save the world.

7. Make the distinction between ethical CSR vs. altruistic CSR vs. strategic CSR concepts (read the paper
The Boundaries of Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility,
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Geoffrey_Lantos/publication/230745480_The_boundaries_of_strate
gic_corporate_social_responsibility/links/00b7d52ca025f48366000000.pdf ​ ).

8. Present/Describe one of the International CSR Reporting Standards (Global Reporting Initiative (GRI
3/GRI 4), ​ AA1000 ​ : AccountAbility 1000, OHSAS18001, SA8000, ISO 14000, ISO 9000) ​ for reporting
the CSR activity (access the website).
9. Explain how governments across the EU aim to shape and promote CSR (read Public policies on CSR in
Europe: Themes, instruments, and regional differences,
https://www.wiso.boku.ac.at/fileadmin/data/H03000/H73000/H73200/InFER_Discussion_Papers/InFER
_DP_12_2_Regional_differences.pdf ​ ).
10. Explain the steps/elements of the “CSR at the heart of business” (read ​ Achieving high performance ​ ,
http://www.theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/311_Achieving_highperf_CSR.pd ​ ,
pp. 24-32, and Simple steps to build your CSR strategy,
http://www.csr-training.eu/fileadmin/downloads/EN/EN_8/EN_8.pdf).
11. Presents the six tasks of implementing corporate social responsibility (read the paper Corporate Social
Responsibility An Implementation Guide for Business, ​ http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/csr_guide.pdf (pp.
18-72)
12. Analyze ​ Friedman’s position vs. The “Broad CSR” Position
Friedman’s position
“[In a free society] . . . there is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and
engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to
say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.
“[The responsibility of a corporate executive]
. . . is to conduct the business in accordance with [the owners’] desires, which generally will be to make as
much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society, both those embodied in law and
those embodied in ethical custom.”
A corporation’s only social responsibility is “to make as much money as possible” (i.e., maximize profits) while
conforming to the “rules of the game” or “basic rules of the society” in which the firm is operating which
include: (1) obeying the “law”; (2) conforming to “ethical custom” (i.e., business norms where you
do business); and (3) acting “without deception or fraud.”

The “Broad CSR” Position
The broader CSR position simply suggests that firms have an obligation to attempt to respect such ethical
values or principles as they pursue mission driven objectives including an adequate profit margin. Another
important feature of the broad CSR position is that theoretical room is given for firms to engage in a range of
philanthropic activities, in other words, helping to solve social problems. Firms can and possibly should
undertake such activities, even when by doing so their profit margins are sacrificed for other mission driven
CSR objectives. What is important with respect to understanding the broad CSR position is that even if one
rejects the philanthropic obligation,
one is still in the broad CSR camp if he or she holds that firms merely have additional ethical obligations

beyond Friedman’s.
In other words, if one is not completely and consistently in line with all of Friedman’s views, he or she should
be considered to fall closer along the continuum toward the broad CSR position.
This assertion provides a useful guidepost for business decision makers attempting to navigate the straits
between the theory and practice of CSR.

13. Choose a company that you like. Analyze all available public information and describe its CSR policies,
strategies and reporting system. Analyze any potential gaps between theory and practice Give example
of a CSR best practice. Key-elements: purpose, issues, stakeholders, CSR activities, CSR
implementation, CSR communication tools…
14. Describe in short the CSR management integrated framework proposed by Maon, F., Lindgreen, A., and
Swaen, V. (see Maon, F., Lindgreen, A., and Swaen, V. (2009), “Designing and implementing corporate
social responsibility: an integrative framework grounded in theory and practice”, ​ Journal of Business
Ethics ​ , Vol. 87, Suppl. 1, pp. 71-89)
15. Present the current trends in CSR reporting. Identify indicators. Consult ​ The KPMG Survey of Corporate
Responsibility Reporting ​ 2013
https://www.google.ro/search?sourceid=chrome-psyapi2&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&q=kpmg%20survey%20of%20corpor
ate%20responsibility%20reporting%202013&oq=KPMG%20survey%20of%20CR%20reporting%20(2013)%2C&aqs=chro
me.2.69i57j0l5.3899j0j7
16. Describe the type of CSR reports.