What is corporate social responsibility (CSR)? According to Wikipedia Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a company's obligation to be responsible towards all its stakeholders in all its operations and activities with the aim of achieving sustainable development not only in the economic dimension but also in the social and environmental one. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_responsibility retrieved:10/09/07); another definition is that "CSR is about how companies manage business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society." (mallenbaker, http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/CSRfiles/definition.html. retrieved:10/09/07) In other words, it is more likely to be described as the company's commitment to making a contribution to society in order to maximize the benefit for all relevant stakeholders. Stakeholders include owners, investors, employees, customers, government, suppliers, competitors and the community. What is ethics? ¡°The rules or standards that govern the conduct of a person or members of a profession¡± is the definition of ethics from the Free Dictionary (thefreedictionary, 2000) (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ethic.retrieved: 10/09/07) Why be CSR and behave ethically? CSR is now more corporate seeking it because they found that they cannot survive without the support of society. Just like a single human being cannot survive without food and water. CSR is vital in companies. For example, an unethical company uses poisoned water to prepare drinks and tries to hide it instead of using other resources because it will cost them more money. Then, he found himself with some lawsuits and banned for sales. To be successful in business, you need to meet society's expectations. How does management ethics relate to corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Management's core values and ethical standards should underpin everything it does and how its employees carry out their daily tasks. Management ethics is about “doing things ethically.” The way in which an organization addresses the social and environmental impacts of its business operations, and its voluntary contribution to the well-being of the global and local communities in which it operates, is often known as corporate social responsibility (CSR). ); it's often about "doing ethical things." Ethical and socially responsible practices are important in relation to various aspects of organizational effectiveness such as quality, communication, profits, competitiveness, survival, efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction. Based on past literature emphasizing cultural factors, corporate culture, and individual characteristics, cross-cultural variation in marketers' perceived importance of ethics and social responsibility in achieving organizational effectiveness is explained by national differences (including cultural differences and differences in the economic environment), organizational ethical climate and selected demographic characteristics of individual marketers.
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