Business Ethics: A Study of Corporate Social Responsibility

This essay explores the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by examining its broad and narrow perspectives. The narrow or classical view emphasizes that a business's primary responsibility is to maximize profit, contributing to economic growth. Conversely, the broad view focuses on socio-economic growth, urging businesses to address societal and environmental issues. Contemporary organizations are increasingly expected to contribute to the planet and mitigate the adverse effects of their operations, balancing profitability with social and environmental responsibility. The essay concludes that organizations should consider both perspectives when implementing CSR strategies to achieve sustainability and a competitive advantage. Desklib offers a platform for students to access similar essays and solved assignments for academic support.

Running head: BUSINESS ETHICS
Business Ethics
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1BUSINESS ETHICS
Ni and Van Wart (2015) are of the viewpoint that the construct of Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) can be seen as a self-regulatory model which helps the business
enterprises to be socially accountable to the different individuals who are related to them. As
opined by Lins, Servaes and Tamayo (2017), the contemporary business enterprises are
required to contribute in a substantial manner towards the planet as well as the environment
and also to mitigate the adverse effects of the damage that their business operations are
causing. As stated by Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim (2014), the focus of the contemporary
organizations is on the attainment of competitive advantage as well as sustainability and the
effective usage of the tool of CSR helps the organizations to achieve these ends in a
congenial manner. This essay will highlight the broad and the narrow or the classical view of
corporate social responsibility (CSR).
. Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim (2014) have argued that one of the most important
aspects of the narrow or the classical view of the construct of CSR is the fact that the business
enterprises have only responsibility, that is, to make profit. In this regard, it can be said that
the primary focus of the different business enterprises should to make as much profit as
possible and thereby contribute towards the economic growth of the nation or the region in
which they are operational. More importantly, this view of the construct of CSR argues the
fact that this is the only sustainable means through which the different business enterprises
can contribute in a substantial manner towards the development of the world and thereby take
responsibility for their actions. This is important because of the fact that the modern business
enterprises are more concerned regarding the brand image of their organizations, employee
performance, the socio-economic aspects of their business and other aspects (Lins, Servaes &
Tamayo, 2017). The net result of this is the fact that this has shifted the focus of the
contemporary business enterprises from the aspect of profitability to the other areas like

2BUSINESS ETHICS
social growth, planetary growth, improvement of the condition of the environment, planet,
society and others.
According to Grayson and Hodges (2017), the broad view of the construct of CSR is
mainly concerned with the aspect of socio-economic growth of the nation or the area in
which they are operational. This is important because of the fact that in the contemporary
times the argument that the business enterprises need to take responsibility for the damage
that are causing has gained much prominence (Ni & Van Wart, 2015). The net result of this is
the fact that the contemporary organizations need to take into effective consideration the
aspects of environment, planet and society (Grayson & Hodges, 2017). Thus, the business
enterprises have an obligation to contribute in a meaningful manner towards the growth of the
society as well as the planet at large. This is being done by the different organizations
through their endeavor to solve the different kinds of wicked problems that the world is
facing currently. The different contemporary business enterprises are thus taking extra
initiatives for the improvement of the societal condition of the world and help in the
resolution of different kinds of issues like gender inequality, global warming and others.
Thus, it can be said that the broad and the narrow view of the construct of CSR offer different
sides of the same concept.
To conclude, the construct of CSR has gained an unprecedented prominence within
the cannon of contemporary business world and is being increasingly used by different
organizations because of the plethora of benefits that they offer to the organizations. In this
regard, it needs to be said that the narrow view of CSR articulates the fact that the fact that
the business enterprises need to focus only on profitability. On the other hand, the broad view
of CSR requires the organizations to help in the socio-economic growth of the planet. Thus,
the organizations need to take into effective consideration both the broad and narrow views of
CSR before its active use.

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References
Cheng, B., Ioannou, I., & Serafeim, G. (2014). Corporate social responsibility and access to
finance. Strategic management journal, 35(1), 1-23.
Grayson, D., & Hodges, A. (2017). Corporate social opportunity!: Seven steps to make
corporate social responsibility work for your business. Routledge.
Lins, K. V., Servaes, H., & Tamayo, A. (2017). Social capital, trust, and firm performance:
The value of corporate social responsibility during the financial crisis. The Journal of
Finance, 72(4), 1785-1824.
Ni, A., & Van Wart, M. (2015). Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing Well and Doing
Good. In Building Business-Government Relations (pp. 175-196). Routledge.