The nature and scope of corporate socialresponsibility has changed over time. The concept of CSR is a relatively newone—the phrase has only been in wide use since the 1960s. As the economic,legal, ethical, and philanthropic expectations of organizations expected by thesociety have changed, it is entirely true to say that organizations tend to actresponsibly at all points.Major events in the 1960s and 1970s affectedsociety’s expectations of business. The civil rights movement, consumerism andenvironmentalism have changed the general idea that great power has greaterresponsibility.
The concept of doing business proactively emerged from thehorizon which entailed certain limitations in ceasing to cause problemsaffecting society and starting participating vigorously in resolving thosefatal societal issues.In order to do that many legal instructionswere placed on business related to employees safety, product safety, equalemployment opportunity and environment. This created a huge awareness amongsociety to expect business to participate in social responsibility voluntarily,regardless of the fact they explicitly involved in causing that problem or not.
Things heat up at the corporate level as they started going beyond economic andlegal responsibilities and performing social responsibilities for thebetterment of society.Now the Corporate SocialResponsibility became an essential part of business reporting. EveryCorporation which is socially and morally responsible has set its ownprocedures and policies regarding CSR activities. Corporations invest billionsannually on social activities and make them public through mentioning in annualreports.
Studies have been shown that there is a direct relationship betweencorporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance. Companiesthose are financially sound and stable spends more on voluntary activitieswhich on only create good name for them but also leads them to higher profitsand greater shareholders value.