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Abstract
Purpose - To develop a model that bridges the gap between CSR definitions and strategy and offers guidance to managers on how to connect socially committed organisations with the growing numbers of ethically aware consumers to simultaneously achieve economic and social objectives.
Design/methodology/approach - This paper offers a critical evaluation of the theoretical foundations of corporate responsibility (CR) and proposes a new strategic approach to CR, which seeks to overcome the limitations of normative definitions. To address this perceived issue, the authors propose a new processual model of CR, which they refer to as the 3C-SR model.
Findings - The 3C-SR model can offer practical guidelines to managers on how to connect with the growing numbers of ethically aware consumers to simultaneously achieve economic and social objectives. It is argued that many of the redefinitions of CR for a contemporary audience are normative exhortations ("calls to arms") that fail to provide managers with the conceptual resources to move from "ought" to "how".
Originality/value - The 3C-SR model offers a novel approach to CR in so far as it addresses strategy, operations and markets in a single framework.
Keywords Corporate social responsibility, Social capital, Corporate strategy
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
Business in society scholars have developed many theoretical frameworks intended to map and measure business organisations' roles and impacts in civil society. However, over 50 years since Bowen (1953) published his seminal Social Responsibilities of the Businessman, management practitioners in general still prefer the narrower economic orientation of the Chicago School to a broader acceptance of social responsibilities. Why does this view persist in the face of overwhelming evidence that its associated externalities present clear and present dangers to society? In this paper, the authors argue that adoption of corporate responsibility (CR) in the commercial world has been limited, to those areas offering economic gains, because scholars have not provided adequate conceptual resources to help managers integrate other aspects of CR into their corporate strategies and operations.
To support this claim we first evaluate several well-known models of CR to establish the overriding focus on definition, scope and measurement (at the expense of implementation). This will establish the paucity of conceptual tools with which to realise a strategic, operational and market relevant approach...