What is corporate social responsibility?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. Corporate social responsibility is an organization's obligation to behave ethically in its social environment. Ethical conduct at the individual level can translate into social responsibility at the organizational level. Multiple stakeholders in society expect organizations to engage in socially responsible actions. Servant leaders play an important role in creating, implementing, and sustaining socially responsible behaviors.Current concerns include protecting the environment, promoting worker safety, supporting social issues, and investing in the community, among others. Some organizations, such as IBM, loan executives to inner-city schools to teach science and math. Some companies have even tried to build a brand around social responsibility, such as the Just Coffee Cooperative, which sponsors trips to coffee-producing regions in order to build customer loyalty to the cause and their brand. Firms that are seen as socially responsible have a competitive advantage in attracting applicants. American Apparel tried to build a brand around the fact that they produce garments locally rather than in foreign sweatshops. However, they found that, as attractive as its ethics might have been to customers, sex appeal was more effective in actually selling its product. Please see the section "Ethical Dilemmas Facing the Modern Organization" for more information.