Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe: An Introduction

Abstract

In an article in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Issue No. 2, 2014, in the United Kingdom, Michael Townsend notes that “Capitalism is suffering a crisis of liquidity, reliability and confidence because it stands accused of failing to create shared wealth, of neglecting the planet, of generating an ever-widening gap in our society and even of failing the shareholders”. Townsend’s comments have actually identified some of the core failings of yesterday’s capitalism and we all can resonate with many of the issues he touched on. These issues have led to many of the challenges and difficulties we have around us today, which through CSR and Sustainable Development we are now able to break down many of them into addressable pieces. They are economic and social illnesses which modern corporate social responsibility advocates should no longer exist in societies around the world, simply because they lead to preventable social, economic and environmental difficulties which hold back the planet Earth from moving forward.