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1. Introduction
For a long time, managing the relationship between business and society has been one of the main topics of academic and business literature. [36], [37] Porter and Kramer (2006, 2011) have proposed a new interpretation of this relationship, starting from the consideration that the traditional school of thought on corporate social responsibility (CSR) shares the same weakness: "they focus on the tension between business and society rather than on their interdependence" ([36] Porter and Kramer, 2006, p. 83). For the first time, the mutual dependence existing between corporations and society, which implies that both business decisions and social policies must follow the principle of shared value with choices benefiting both sides, has been put into evidence. In fact, they argue that "successful corporations need an healthy society (and) at the same time an healthy society needs successful companies" ([36] Porter and Kramer, 2006, p. 83). Therefore, from a shared value viewpoint, companies must integrate a social perspective into the core frameworks that they use to understand competition and develop business strategy. The shared value principle becomes more influential when companies decide to expand their businesses into developing countries where the link between corporations and society becomes stronger ([18] Jamali, 2010; [27] Matten and Crane, 2005). This is because, on the one hand these countries represent a good business opportunity, on the other hand they are characterized by huge social problems. Thus, corporate social responsibility strategies should generate business as well as social value.
Starting from Porter and Kramer's theory, companies that have already invested or want to invest in developing countries can choose between different corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. Firstly, they could reduce the dangers caused by their value chain. Secondly, they could choose a philanthropic strategy which improves the most important areas of the competitive context. Finally, they could opt for a strategic CSR where the social dimension becomes part of the value proposition.
In the latter case Porter and Kramer note "the concept of shared value blurs the line between for-profit and non profit organization. New kinds of hybrid enterprises are rapidly appearing" ([37] Porter and Kramer, 2011, p. 67). In fact, recently for-profit companies engaging in strategic CSR have chosen to implement new hybrid business models that are part...