Corporate Sustainability: Integrating Performance and Reporting

Chapter 7

The Social Dimension of Corporate Sustainability

ExecutiveSummary

Corporations have shifted their primary goals from profit maximization to creating value for all stakeholders, including shareholders, while fulfilling their social responsibilities. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) as either ethical or ideological theory suggests that entities, regardless of type and size, have a responsibility to protect the society that they operate in. Social performance measures how well an institution has translated its social goals into practice. It is measured through the principles, actions, and corrective measures implemented. Social performance (SP), or the social bottom line, is about making an organization's social mission a reality, aligned with the interests of society by adding accepted social values and fulfilling social responsibility.

Not all companies present meaningful reports to shareholders and the general public on their social performance. A governing body providing regulations or standards for disclosures on social responsibility will enhance the transparency, accuracy, and usefulness of such reports. This chapter presents the social dimension of sustainability performance.

Introduction

The true measure of success for corporations should be determined not only by reported earnings but also by their governance, social responsibility, ethical behavior, and environmental initiatives. Social responsibility is the concept that all entities must conduct themselves ...