Corporate Innovation Strategies

2CSR as a Lever Which Corrects and/or Anticipates Potential Damage to the Company

Potential damage may arise from the pressures that socio-political and/or market stakeholders may exert on the company, if its activities produce negative social and/or environmental externalities, or if it is unaware of their existence.

2.1. CSR as a lever to avoid pressures from socio-political stakeholders

Today, companies feel “almost” obliged to reconsider, indirectly, the way they relate to their internal and external stakeholders. They are increasingly exposed to risks in terms of image (as an institution), legislation (environmental and social risks) and competitiveness, if they do not behave in a way that is acceptable to these stakeholders. Some companies have developed CSR strategies based on creating shared value (CSV) without this being an entirely voluntary or a spontaneous act, but many other companies have only “woken up” after being surprised by the reactions of hard and soft power stakeholders, to issues they had not previously considered as part of their job responsibilities (Porter and Kramer 2010). The relationship between the company and its stakeholders should therefore not be analyzed as a relationship of agency, but as a relationship of dependence on the resources they hold (Quairel and Auberger 2005). This dependence subordinates the firm to the stakeholders and asserts that its sustainability depends on its ability to manage their demands and, above all, on those whose ...