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Introduction
The concept of social responsibility of business - popularly termed 'Corporate Social Responsibility' (CSR) - is by no means a recent phenomenon, but many observers agree that the globalization has spurred its growth and prominence. The notion of CSR, which now dominates thinking about corporate behaviour among a section of academics and practitioners alike, is prevalent in the US and lately, Aaronson (2002) argues, Europe has taken the lead in shaping global CSR debates. Corporate philanthropy - regarded as the earliest manifestation of CSR - is no longer considered an adequate response to demands for social responsibility. The term CSR includes environmental, social, and human rights-based impacts and initiatives of companies (Ward and Fox, 2002), and many countries in both industrialized and the third world take the concept and practices seriously (Hopkins, 2003). The definition of CSR, therefore, is still being debated and there is no consensus among academicians or practitioners (Mohan, 2001). Ward and Fox (2002) argue, 'whatever the language used, the basic idea is to understand business as part of society - not somehow separate from it'.
CSR framework in the development context
South and South-East Asian countries have seen many institutional changes, particularly with regard to economic sector (Goyal, 1996). This has been influenced by free market policies pushed by the US and some multilateral financial institutions, the fall of Communist regimes in the Eastern Europe, and the internal dynamics of these economies. The processes of corporate-led globalization has led to the state being moved out of the 'productive' sphere to the 'protective' sphere. The stabilization and adjustment policies followed by governments in the region have moved1 broadly along the following directions:
This has led to:
CSR needs to be understood within this context captured in the framework presented below:
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Recent economic and social development trends and issues in India
With an ambitious target of a double-digit growth of gross domestic product (GDP) and the second generation of economic reforms underway, the Government of India's foreign exchange coffers passed US$ 1 billion mark in 2003. Corporate India is now riding on a wave of new found confidence (Shourie, 2004). India's GDP, post liberalization process that began in 1991 - led by the services sector which now account...