Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) refers to the responsibility of economy to a positive development in social matters, environment and sustainability. It has no clear definition yet, but in 2010 there has been the ISO standard developed.
CSR has developed from a voluntary individual self-regulation for private companies into a regulation that is demanded by local, regional and international authorities.[1]. Nowadays, CSR can be seen as an integrated business concept.
There are two main approaches for putting CSR into practice:
- the normative approach
- the economically motivated approach
The former sees CSR as a necessity for companies to give back to society and nature. The latter refers to the intrinsical motivation of a company to use CSR as a tool for trust-building, marketing, reputation and customer satisfaction. Here, there is always the danger of Greenwashing.
