CSR | Corporate Social Responsibility | Key Terms

Key Terms - Corporate Social Responsibility

Altruistic CSR:  Organizations take a philanthropic approach by underwriting specific initiatives to give back to the company’s local community or to designated national or international programs.

Corporate Citizenship:  An alternative term for corporate social responsibility, implying that the organization is a responsible citizen in meeting all its obligations.

Corporate Conscience:  An alternative term for corporate social responsibility, implying that the organization is a responsible citizen in meeting all its obligations.

Corporate Social Responsibility:  The actions of an organization that are targeted toward achieving a social benefit over and above maximizing profits for its shareholders and meeting all its legal obligations.

Ethical CSR:  Organizations pursue a clearly defined sense of social conscience in managing their financial responsibilities to shareholders, their legal responsibilities to their local community and society as a whole, and their ethical responsibilities to “do the right thing” for all their stakeholders.

Instrumental Approach:  The perspective that the only obligations of a corporation is to maximize profits for its shareholders in providing goods and services that meet the needs of its customers.

Social Contract Approach:  The perspective that a corporation has an obligation to society over and above the expectations of its shareholders.

Strategic CSR:  Philanthropic activities are targeted toward programs that will generate the most positive publicity or goodwill for the organization.


Source: Ghillyer_Business Ethics A Real World Approach 2e