Boeger, Nina; Murray, Rachel; Villiers, Charlotte --- "Introduction" [2008] ELECD 286; in Boeger, Nina; Murray, Rachel; Villiers, Charlotte (eds), "Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008)

Book Title: Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility

Editor(s): Boeger, Nina; Murray, Rachel; Villiers, Charlotte

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847205612

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: Introduction

Author(s): Boeger, Nina; Murray, Rachel; Villiers, Charlotte

Number of pages: 7

Extract:

1. Introduction
Nina Boeger, Rachel Murray and Charlotte
Villiers
What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and what exactly does the term
encompass? Is CSR necessarily a good thing? As this collection of essays
illustrates, the answers to these questions are essential for a rational system to
be devised in order to respond adequately or appropriately to the challenges
raised in the CSR debate. Globalization adds to these definitional challenges,
as a term that also has problems of definition. Is global economic growth a
(politically neutral) means of wealth-creation and -distribution or a (political)
good in its own right? The answers to these questions will affect our views of
CSR, and how it is enforced.
Where definitions are not settled, identifying the aims and expectations also
becomes difficult. Misunderstandings arise alongside contradictions and
competing approaches. For example, there exists competition between the
notions of sustainable development, including environmental concerns, and
social policy concerns focusing on poverty reduction and decent standards of
living. The fact that either can and has been pursued through CSR merely
serves to highlight what a wide field the CSR debate covers, and that there is
a need for clear definitions. `Social responsibility' and `corporate responsibil-
ity', and related terms such as `corporate governance', corporate `stakeholder'
or `shareholder' models all need to be carefully defined, to avoid talking at
cross-purposes.
This collection of essays arises out of a symposium in which lawyers from
different spheres were brought together to discuss CSR in the context of glob-
...