Corporate Social Responsibility: A Way for “Image Management”

“Wealth that comes from the people as far as possible must go back to the people” rightly said by Jamsedji Tata, who is pioneer of social responsibility in India. As a concept, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is defined as “the process by which a corporation participates in the welfare of both internal and external community, enhancing its environment and well-being to the advantages of the organization and the community concerned”. The whole concept also aims to build relationships with everyone and thus increasing the reputation of the company. CSR should be in line with the business operations; integrating the interest of all the stakeholders. CSR do focus on the social, environmental and financial success of a company with the overarching goal being to positively impact society while achieving business success. There are reasons to undertake CSR activities. The proposed research is an attempt to study whether CSR, among other things is increasing becoming a tool towards image management of the company. With the help of exploratory qualitative research methodology, the study analyzed the three case studies of the multinational organizations and how they used CSR as a tool for image management. It can be said CSR as an activity to increase corporate growth or it is a mere defensive image management exercise.