Study of corporate social responsibility: An employee's perspective

Abstract

Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) is best defined by the World Business Council (2006) as “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 of the local community and society at large”. The phrase, Corporate Social responsibility was coined with the publication of William J. Bowens 'Social Responsibility of Businessmen' in 1953. Later in 1960’s, articles on CSR as a subject suggested that companies had certain responsibilities to society beyond legal obligations. In 1984, the management consultant Peter Drucker wrote about the imperative to turn social problems into economic opportunities. Although the first company to publish a social report on CSR was Ben and Jerry's in 1989, the first major company to implement CSR was Shell in 1998. However, the term CSR became popular only in the 1990s, when a generic pharmaceutical company in Germany, ‘Beta pharm’ decided to implement CSR.