An Overview of the Concept and Efficacy of Corporate Social Responsibility: An International and National Perspective

Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR means a business program by which companies have to look beyond the objective of earning profits and have to take a pledge to give back to the society and the environment where they perform their business activities. It is about building a long-lasting commitment of doing business operations in justifiable and moral manners in order to reverse the damages inflicted upon nature and society by their activities. It can be stated that it is a discretionary dedication of companies towards the society and environment for carrying out their business operations dutifully and responsibly. Certain priority areas of CSR include responsibilities towards the society and environment. Apart from that it covers specific ethical as well as economic functions. The basic objective being profit making and at the same time, contributing towards social well-being, improving their own reputation, earning trust from consumers and finally guaranteeing long-lasting sustainability. So CSR implies companies performing their business operations both profitably as well as morally. Speaking about the global CSR trends, it is important to mention that majority of the companies across nations, focus their CSR goals on climate change which involves carbon neutrality measures and employing renewable energy. Other focus areas revolve around providing ethical supply chains and equitable work culture. Egalitarianism is another chief phenomenon that is included in many CSR plans. Corporate governance, reporting, transparency, maximum stakeholder involvement and community investment are key areas of global trends of CSR that are followed by corporations. The concept mostly reflects the socio-economic requirements in the locality where each company operates whereby the company pledges to practise their operations sustainably and ethically, keeping in mind the welfare of the community. In the current work, the author has explored CSR models of the USA, the UK, Japan and China. Lastly, the CSR law in India has been studied and it includes the performances of a few major companies. This paper has been focused on finding out the purpose of and achievements of CSR worldwide and in India. To that end, the author has included certain in depth analyses and pictures of the idea since its introduction to the present time.