Introduction
Benjamin Franklin once said “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” The 21st century is moving corporate social responsibility (CSR) to new levels. With social media in today’s world, it can have positive or negative impacts on an organization. There is now more focus on operating and processes ensuring ethical behavior within the company, community, and environmentally. (Corporate Social Responsibility, 2014)
There are many benefits to using strong corporate social responsibility within an organization. Since there will always be competitors in today’s market, a company must find a way to differentiate themselves from others. To do this a company needs to develop and maintain good standing relationships with everyone involved including but not limited to suppliers, networks, employees, and customers. Having a positive business reputation not only helps retain current customers but opens the doors to new business. (“The Benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility”, n.d.)
Corporate social responsibility is broken up into two different types. When people think of CSR, they often only think of the definition as being a corporation or organization providing funding and resources for meaningful social causes. This can often times be seen as donating money or providing employee time for charities, but there is much more to CSR than that. The second type of corporate social responsibility is developing a plan to produce products or provide services while keeping societies best interest in mind at all times. Corporations that successfully integrate these two different types of CSR will benefit in today’s market. (Why Corporate Social Responsibility is so important, 2013)
Not a drain of profits but a benefit
“CSR should not be viewed as a drain on resources, because carefully implemented CSR policies can help your organization.” (The Benefits of Corporate...