Corporate Social Responsibility

What does Corporate Social

Responsibility mean to you?

Sam Pygatt

Shippensburg University

Abstract

For years, there has been different views and opinions on the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility, and what is the actual meaning of it.  The concept of CSR has been discussed back and forth with professors, business specialists, and the general public who would consider themselves consumers about what CSR really is.  What is Corporate Social Responsibility really mean?  My definition of CSR might be completely different than what a public relations professor at the University of Miami might view it as.  CSR has a lot of roles in today’s businesses; but what role to do they really play?  Is CSR a propaganda tactic? Or is CSR really used to actually show they care for whatever cause they are supporting?  In the following paragraphs, I will give you my thoughts on CSR, and what it means to me in the role of businesses.  

What does CSR mean to me?

        Before I came into the class, I had no idea what Corporate Social Responsibility even meant.  All I knew was that it had to do with something like donations or helping out the less fortunate; but I was completely wrong.  It wasn’t until I actually read some assigned articles, and some information from the book that I realized what it actually meant.  The concept of CSR is vague and ambiguous and the confusion creates high equivocality (Ziek, 2009), and I completely agree with that statement.  It doesn’t matter whether you refer to Carrol’s definition, Davis’s definition, or Bowen’s definition they all have some sort of different approach to them (Ch. 1&2 Lecture).  Some people look at CSR as a negative way to do business, and some look at it as a positive action for the society and consumers.  After learning about the history of CSR, and what it really means; I would say that CSR is a way for companies to engage their stakeholders or whoever they are trying to target for a long-term commitment which could possibly lead to increased sales or profit.  CSR from my perspective is organizations or companies helping other causes that they know the general people support so they can be looked at as the good guys so the consumers will gravitate towards them.  In a recent article, David Stern of the National Basketball Association (NBA) stated that “there is a fundamental belief throughout our organization and our teams that we have an obligation to be leaders in social responsibility (Formentin and Babiak; 2014).  Based on this statement right here, it is evident that the NBA takes place in CSR because it’s mandatory.  If it weren’t for David Stern having such a strict policy with the matter, then I don’t think the amount of players who do it now would be participating a certain events.  I remember having a discussion about the NBA Cares organization in class in the beginning of the semester, and I voiced my opinion about how I thought NBA Cares was used for financial gain.  I pay attention to the NBA, and how the players talk and it just seems to be like there isn’t much passion with what they are talking about.