Corporate social responsibility: A step towards development

As the role of the private sector becomes increasingly central to global corporate growth, there is a strong need to ensure the private interest is matched with public good, but neither global corporate citizenship nor public-private partnerships are easy to achieve. Recent events such as the collapse of World Com and Enron are shaping and changing as how we view the role of corporations in society. But not all business organizations behave in a socially responsible manner and there are people who would argue that it is not the job of business organizations to be concerned about social issues and problems. There are two schools of thought on this issue. In the free market view, the job of business is to create wealth with the interests of the shareholders, the other view is that business organization should be concerned with social issues, for this the main challenges is to create an enabling environment within which these two inter-related activities can flourish. The corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept has recently become more heavily widespread and at the heart of some companies agendas. One of the reasons for this heavy shift toward embracing social responsibility can be attributed to globalization and pressure from many stakeholders (among them the media and the pubic) to ensure that companies’ practices do not negatively impact the environment and society.