Corporate Social Responsibility – between Desideratum and Reality.docVIP

Theoretical and Applied Economics Volume XVIII (2011), No. 10(563), pp. 57-74 Corporate Social Responsibility – between Desideratum and Reality Anca Maria HRISTEA Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies amhristea@ Abstract. The corporate social responsibility is a desideratum of the world and it is an important premise of the business environment. The objectives of this presentation are: conceptual understanding, the identi- fication of the advantages generated by the social responsibility for the company and for the society as a whole, the determination of the correlation between the enterprise’s efforts and the obtained effects, the pointing out of the necessity of setting up of the corporate social responsibility on ethical criteria. As a corollary, one can appreciate that the corporate social responsibility is a source of competitive advantage and a strategic intercession. Keywords: corporate social responsibility; business ethics; innovation; sustainability; competitive advantage. JEL Codes: A10, F02, M14. REL Codes: 7G, 18G.  58 Anca Maria Hristea 1. Introduction Corporate social responsibility (1) became starting with the year 2000 one of the hot topics in the field of business. Concept that refers to the contribution that the companies have to the development of the modern society, the “responsible” initiative was theorized the thinking trends, and it was promoted through a great diversity of terms: corporate citizenship, corporate philanthropy, corporate societal marketing, community affairs, community development etc. The supporting and the obeying of the fundamental human rights, the right to free association, the elimination of all the forms of forced labour, the fight against corruption, the promoting of responsibility towards the environment are just a few of the principles aimed by the CSR. We can say that corporative social responsi