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Abstract
Corporate affluence can be sustained only when social development and well-being of communities take place concomitantly. Social performance of companies is fast becoming a benchmark in the business world and CSR has grown as a parameter of this performance throughout the world. The paper examines the different explanations of the concept of CSR, and its strengths and weaknesses. It discusses the shift from CSR to CSV (Creating Shared Value) by enlightened companies across the globe. The paper also focuses on the symbiotic relationship between CSR/CSV and HR practices.
Key words: Corporate social responsibility, creating shared value, employee volunteering, and HR practices.
Business and community, taken together, consist of an interactive system. Each needs the other. Each can influence the other. They are intertwined so completely that an action taken by one will inevitably affect the other. The boundary line between the two is blurred and indistinct. Community orientation of corporate organizations is an evolving ideology. It is also known as corporate citizenship. Three concepts have arisen the social performance of companies since beginning of the twentieth century. During the 1950s and 1960s, the concept of corporate social responsibility became popular. The concept of corporate social responsiveness emerged during the early 1970s followed by the concept of social rectitude during the mid-1970s (Frederick, 1987). All these concepts now exist side by side. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the widely popular concept globally, replacing corporate philanthropy. CSR is now giving way to CSV (creating shared value).
CONCEPTS OF CSR
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an umbrella term (Blowfield and Frynas, 2005) used to describe different socially oriented practices. American economist Bowen (1953), known as the father of the modern practice of corporate social responsibility, was the first to bring CSR into the business domain through his book "Social Responsibility of the Businessman." The term CSR "is a brilliant one, it is something but not always the same thing to everybody" (Votaw and Sethi, 1973).
Carroll (1991) proposed a pyramidal structure to explain CSR with four layers of responsibilities: economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic. Economic and legal responsibilities are demanded by the state and society, where as the ethical aspect is expected from business and the philanthropic responsibility is purely discretionary. Ethical responsibility of business,...