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Corporate Social Responsibility

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Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics

Synonyms

Corporate social performance

Introduction

There is no universally agreed upon definition of corporate social responsibility. Opinion is largely divided according to whether a corporation’s social responsibility is to maximize profits for shareholders (shareholder primacy) or whether it extends to serving the interest of any entity that is impacted by (impacts upon) the firm’s activities. The competing views of the social responsibility of corporations are referred to as the shareholder and stakeholder views, respectively. However, more recent developments reflect a convergence of the competing views, where value for shareholders may be best served by taking into consideration the interests of other stakeholders.

Discussion

The nature and scope of a corporation’s social responsibility is underpinned by the relevant traditional corporate governance model. In the Anglo–American (UK–US) tradition, a public corporation is viewed as a fiduciary relationship between shareholders...

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Correspondence to Colleen Hayes .

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Hayes, C. (2018). Corporate Social Responsibility. In: Poff, D., Michalos, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_158-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_158-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23514-1

  • eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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