Philanthropy and
responsibility, in the critical
segment of corporate sustainability matrix, stand at
two extreme ends of a continuum. At one end, people interpret it
as compliance to law; at the other extreme, it is sheer
philanthropic in nature. Much before the phrase Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) was coined, the industries and the individuals used to
donate some amount of their earnings for the development of society.
CSR was more widely accepted as community-based
development approach for a long time.
Over the period of time, a wide range of issues relating to
rising population, poverty, global warming, health,
illiteracy, unemployment in the country have been aggravated and impacted
the nation and the corporation to a large extent. The Government
of India formulated guidelines for the business enterprises to spend
at least 1% of their net profit for societal development.
The business houses today feel it necessary to
stay legitimately in business by complying to CSR legislation. This has
been reflected in the social responsibility activities of the corporate
houses which have moved beyond the traditional focus on
periphery development as against the traditional contractual
obligation.
The definition of CSR is reflected in the three words contained
within its title phrase: `corporate', `social', and `responsibility'.
Broadly speaking, CSR covers the responsibilities of the
business enterprises (or other for-profit organizations) towards the
societies within which they operate. More specifically, CSR engages a
business enterprise identifying its stakeholder groups
and incorporating their needs and values within the strategic and
day-to-day decision-making process. |
