Green Energy to Sustainability: Strategies for Global Industries

24Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Sustainability as Forces of Change

Asutosh T. Yagnik

AdSidera Ltd., London, SW1Y 4NW, United Kingdom

Institute for Institute for Strategy, Resilience & Security, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom

CHAPTER MENU

• Introduction
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
• From CSR to Corporate Sustainability
• Perspectives
• References

24.1 Introduction

Over the last two decades the terms ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) and ‘sustainability/corporate sustainability’ (CS) have become increasingly prevalent in discussions in business, academia, and amongst the wider public. In fact, so much so that the popular media and social media platforms all have discussions on these topics on a daily basis, as they relate to companies, governments, and society in general. The two terms have become en vogue buzz words businesses use to help manage their brand equity with the public and are often used interchangeably. But different questions remain such as ‘what exactly does CSR mean?’, ‘why and how is it implemented by corporations?’ and ‘is there any difference between CSR and CS?’. These points are examined in this chapter of the book.

24.2 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

To better understand CSR and best practice in its implementation, the first step is to lay out the fundamentals of the topic, that is, its definition and its key concepts.

24.2.1 What Is CSR?

It is not straightforward to define CSR in the ...