Businesses worldwide are increasingly worried about the impact of their business activities on society. They also recognize that the world they live in presents a growing array of demands, pressures and risks that are not signalled through markets or the traditional political processes on which they have relied for a very long time. Thus, many have implemented into their operation the so-called corporate social responsibility (hereinafter also CSR) that aim to balance their operations with the concerns of internal and external stakeholders such as employees, customers, suppliers and business partners, labour unions, local communities, non-governmental organizations (hereinafter also NGOs) and governments. By its very nature CSR is a complex, multiform phenomenon emerging as the interface between enterprises and society. Social and environmental consequences have started to being weighed against economic gains and short-term profit against long-term prosperity by the businesses in order to maintain long-term sustainable growth and development.
With growing sensitivity towards social and environmental issues and shareholder and owner concerns that can be effectively addressed through internal and external dimension of CSR, businesses are increasingly striving to become better “corporate citizens”, i.e. appropriately grasping and implementing CSR concept.
But whilst many agree that CSR is the right thing for businesses to implement and follow, proponents often grow uncomfortable when explaining the business case for “doing good”. The costs associated with CSR programmes are clear but the positive correlation with better financial performance is often hard to prove. In any case, proponents may argue and are finding a solid ground that the objectives of CSR go beyond short-term economic gains and are mainly focused on a long-term prosperity and sustainability of