CSR: An Evolving Concept

The history of life on Earth is a history of evolution. Animals evolve, human beings evolve, and so does Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): From Philanthropy to Sustainability, from Reputation Management to Corporate Responsibility, from activity to strategy.

This summer, while I am writing my dissertation on the quality of sustainability reporting in the food undustry, I am also re-reading some interesting papers and articles about CSR and sustainability. I have picked two of them that reflect very well this evolution:

• Wayne Visser’s vision of an upgraded CSR 2.0, where dialogue, interconnections and scalability play an important role, among other principles. Stakeholders play a very relevant part in this vision.
• Kramer and Porter’s concept about «Creating Shared Value«, a model, to my opinion, made to fit like a glove to multinational companies, and that is deeply influenced by other concepts such as the Bottom of the Pyramid.

I will analyse both theories in a post to come. However, I will advance now that the modern concept of what I understand under CSR  (also very well re-defined by Wayne Visser as «Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility») comprehends the creation of shared value but also goes beyond that.

In any case, CSR is not understood as a peripheral activity, but something «embedded in a company’s DNA», an omnipresent expression by the way.

The differences and common grounds of both visions will be explored in the forthcoming post.

Meanwhile, I will go on expending my summer holidays preparing my dissertation on the quality of sustainable reporting of companies such as Unilever, Danone, Sara Lee, CSM and Diageo.

Enjoy the rest of the summer!