Definition | CSR
“Corporate social responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large.”
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2000)
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Source: Dahlsrud, A.: How corporate social responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions, in: Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 15, 1–13, 2006
I like this definition. It involves all important points: ethical behaviour, economic development, improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families and so on.
In my opinion the definition also include not just the local well-being of the community, but also the well-being and (working) conditions of the community in another countries far away. For example for workers in the textile industry: Ethical behaviour for companies and organizations in this case is that they have the responsibility to ensure that the textile workers will be payed appropiate, that they get enough sleep, free time, food and daylight, that they do not have to do the same work all the time… Unfortunately this is just the case ina few companies woldwide.
What I like here, is the term “continuing commitment” – I think it is crucial in regard that CSR is not a project with an end, but a never ending process.
I like this definition as well. What I especially like here is that this definition also includes the families of salaried employees and that it includes not only the local community but also society as a whole.
This definition shows the long term behavior/tasks of companies and the result of their activities for CSR. Parts of the business could be included and separated.
I miss the environmental and sustainable part in this defintion. But other than that I think that it covers the main aspects of CRS.
I think it gives a good idea of CSR but in my opinion there are still some further relevant aspects missing.
As my colleague already mentioned I would say that this definition gives a short outtake of what CSR really include. Nevertheless aspects such as environment, sustainability or responsibility have to be taken into account.
I like this definition because it covers the main aspects of CSR. To me it is outstanding that different stakeholders are included (like the families of employees).