The Concept and Development Tendencies of Corporate Social Responsibility

Authors

  • Krisztina Szegedi University of Miskolc

Keywords:

Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR

Abstract

The expression Corporate Social Responsibility was first used in the United States of America in the 1960s. This triggered a
nationwide debate about the responsibilities corporations have towards societies. The most criticized statement belongs to Milton
Friedman, a Nobel prize winner, who said, “The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.”[1] This means that there
is only one responsibility of business, namely to use its resources and to become engaged in activities in order to target increases in
profits. The past few decades have brought about a lot of changes. According to a survey published recently, which encompassed
over 100 countries, the majority of managers polled said it was not enough if corporations generated high returns to investors but
this should be balanced with contributions to the broader public good. [2] In the background of the empirical results lies the fact that
growing numbers of corporations realise that the business world is not an isolated area, but is closely linked with, and strongly
related to, its narrower and wider environment and ultimately to societies and the natural environment.

Author Biography

Krisztina Szegedi, University of Miskolc

Associate Professor

References

New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970.

Global Survey of Business Executives. McKinsey Quarterly January 2006.

Kun, A.: A vállalati szociális elkötelezettség tematizálásának alapvonalai az Európai Unióban, Jogelméleti

Szemle, 2004. http://jesz.ajk.elte.hu/kun17.html

Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The Council and the European Economic and

Social Committee, 2006. http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/csr/index_en.htm

Institute of Business Ethics: How does business ethics relate to Corporate Responsibility (CR)?

http://www.ibe.org.uk/faq.htm#cr

Corporate Social Responsibility, Eine orientierung aus umweltsicht, Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz

und Reaktorsicherheit, Berlin, 2008.

http://www.bmu.de/files/wirtschaft_und_umwelt/downloads/application/pdf/brochuere_csr.pdf

Assessing the impact of societal issues: A McKinsey Global Survey, 2007.

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Assessing_the_impact_of_societal_issues_A_McKinsey_Global_Survey_207

Rethinking Corporate Social Responsibility. A Fleishman-Hillard/National Consumers League Study, 2007.

Mark Line, 2006, idézi Tóth Gergely (2007): A valóban felelős vállalat.

Soziale Unternehmensverantwortung aus Bürgersicht, Berlin, 2003.

http://www.iwe.unisg.ch/org/iwe/web.nsf/SysWebRessources/Diskussionsgrundlage_CSRStudie/$

FILE/Diskussionsgrundlage.pdf

What Does Business Think about Corporate Social Responsibility? A Comparison of Attitudes and Practises in

Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Enabling a Better Environment for CSR in CEE Countries Project, 2006.

Triin Noorkóiv-Triinu Gröön: Corporate Social Responsibility: The Concept and its Status Regionally and

Nationally in Central and Eastern Europe and Estonia. EBS Review, 2004/2005.

http://www.csrwire.com/News/4698.html

Kotler, Philip - Lee, Nancy: Corporate Social Responsibility, Wiley John and Sons, 2005

Porter, M.- Kramer, M. R. :Strategy and Society. The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social

Responsibility. Harvard Business Review, December 2006.

Corporate social responsibility - A business contribution to sustainable development. European Commission,

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/soc-dial/csr/csr2002_col_en.pdf

COM(2005) 24.

Bevan, S. - Isles, N. – Emery, P. – Hoskins, T.: Achieving high performance. CSR at the heart of business. The

Work Foundation, 2004.

Executives Say Corporate Responsibility Can Be Profitable. csrwire, 2007.

http://www.csrwire.com/News/9604.html

Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research, 2007.

http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/summit2007/gs_esg_embargoed_until030707pdf.pdf

Tóth, G. (2007): The Truly Responsible Enterprise, KÖVET.

Executives Say Corporate Responsibility Can Be Profitable. csrwire, 2007.

http://www.csrwire.com/News/9604.html

http://www.csrwire.com/News/3527.html

Assessing the impact of societal issues: A McKinsey Global Survey, 2007.

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Assessing_the_impact_of_societal_issues_A_McKinsey_Global_Survey_2077

Tóth, G. (2007): The Truly Responsible Enterprise, KÖVET.

Burmeister, K. (2008): Megatrends and the future of Social Responsibility. From CSR International.

Responsibility for one world.

Downloads

Published

2010-05-01

How to Cite

Szegedi, K. . (2010). The Concept and Development Tendencies of Corporate Social Responsibility. Theory, Methodology, Practice – Review of Business and Management, 5(01), 67–74. Retrieved from https://ojs.uni-miskolc.hu/index.php/tmp/article/view/1350

Issue

Section

Articles