Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Law

Introduction Our assigned topic deals with a phenomenon that has taken the corporate world by storm rather recently, particularly in Pakistan. It entails the dilemma that every corporation faces when they have to make decisions regarding the firm’s profitability and their corporation’s social responsibility. The term "corporate social responsibility" came into common use in the late 1960s and early 1970s after many multinational corporations formed the term stakeholder, meaning those on whom an organization 's activities have an impact. It was used to describe corporate owners beyond shareholders. The field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has developed exponentially in the last decade. Nevertheless, there remains a lingering debate about the legitimacy and value of corporate reaction to CSR concerns. There are different views of the function of the firm in society and disagreement as to whether wealth maximization should be the sole goal of a corporation. An escalating number of shareholders, analysts, regulators, activists, labor unions, employees, community organizations, and news media are asking companies to be accountable for an ever-changing set of CSR issues. There is rising demand for transparency and growing expectations that corporations measure, report, and continuously improve their social, environmental, and economic performance. According to Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), corporate social responsibility is defined as “achieving commercial success in ways that honor ethical values and respect people, communities, and the natural environment.” Each company is at variance in how it implements corporate social responsibility, if it does so at all. The differences depend on such factors as any particular company’s size, the particular industry involved, the firm’s business culture, stakeholder demands, and how historically progressive the company is in engaging CSR. Some companies focus on a single area, which is

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