C/B/669. Corporate Social Responsibility: Different Perspectives

Companies often willingly engage in socially responsible behaviour because it enhances stakeholders' value, their positive perception, and make good impression on their community. A school of thought has emerged within the CSR discussion that believe that firms that have their prime objective to create shareholder's wealth uses social and environmental reporting as competencies to gain competitive advantage by countering the pressure from different social and environmental groups. Gary (2006), in the light of this discussion has pointed out that "substantive social and environmental reporting and, especially, high quality reporting on (un)sustainability will demonstrate that modern international financial capitalism and the principal organs which support it are essentially designed to maximise environmental destruction and the erosion of any realistic notion of social justice" (p. 793). This essay has therefore been aimed at analyzing this statement in the light of different perspectives, theories and case studies.