Corporate Social Responsibility In The United States And Europe: How Important Is It? The Future Of Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility plays an important role in a firm’s life in the U.S.today.  It is not enough for companies to generate a profit.  U.S. citizens expect them to generate a profit and conduct themselves in an ethical and socially responsible manner.  The U.S. Sentencing Commission Guidelines help organizations facilitate this expectation, which is vital for corporate growth and maintaining a competitive edge.  Managers who deal with ethical and social responsibility problems often times aren’t dealing with optimal solutions.  Managers often settle for solutions that suffice or cause the least harm.  Managers charged with choosing the ethical or socially responsible path often face problems with no clear solution. Since the formation of the European Union, corporate social responsibility has garnered heightened attention in Europe.   This isevidenced by their development of sustainability strategies.  The Sustainable Development Strategy for Europe was approved in June 2001.  It stated that social cohesion, environmental protection, and economic growth must coexist.   This paper compares corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Europe to CSR in the United States.  It also examines today’s three corporate social responsibility models: the shareholder value model, the stakeholder model and the business ethics model. This paper also addresses Wayne Visser’s (2010) five principles which he considers the future of corporate social responsibility, Aras and Crowther’s(2011) theory that an organization should be held accountable to the external environment, and the rationale for new paradigms for the future in companies worldwide.