Sustainable Management for Managers and Engineers

6Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting: Background, Evolution and Sustainability Promoter

Corporate social responsibility has come a long way from the first forms of unregulated, voluntary social actions of businesses to the now standardized, regulated mandatory and voluntary activity within the CSR field. As the concept became more and more complex, the need for CSR reporting became evident and standards for CSR reporting emerged. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) materialized as the main standard for CSR reporting. This chapter is composed of a short historical evolution of the CSR concept and associated reporting opportunities, a quantitative analysis of policy regarding CSR around the world, and a quantitative analysis of the reporting activity within five industrial sectors: energy, chemicals, metal products, mining, and automotive.

6.1. Introduction

The problem of CSR has been studied by many researchers over the last few decades. The concept has had many transformations over time and, as the world became more connected and access to information became easier, the increasing popularity of CSR forced companies to approach it more proactively, placing more and more importance on stakeholder opinion, to the detriment of shareholders.

The new paradigm of CSR activity has recently shifted from large companies, the most visible in the eyes of stakeholders, to medium and small companies, as digitalization now offers quick access to information on every aspect of a ...