Preamble

Corporate social responsibility: a personal reflection on Clover Mama Afrika
E. Vlok & E.M. Kloppers
School for Communication Studies
Potchefstroom Campus
North-West University
POTCHEFSTROOM
E-mail: Elbe.Kloppers@nwu.ac.za
Elain.Vlok@clover.co.za

Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate social investment (CSI), the term preferred by most South African businesses, has been studied from the 1950s, up to date no universally accepted definition has been formulated. However, the basic concepts put forward in the definition of the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development (WBCSD) (2000) are generally accepted as forming the core of CSR.
This definition explains that CSR is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families, as well as of the local community and society at large.
The South African government’s definition of CSR as proposed in the Draft Codes of Good Practice on Broad-Based Black Economic
Empowerment (2005) is closely related to the WBCSD’s definition. It states that social investment (as it is referred to in the document) is
“an enterprise’s contributions to society and community that are extraneous to its regular business activities” (Department of Trade and
Industry, 2005). This definition furthermore emphasises development as the outcome of CSR and that local communities should be the main beneficiaries of these programmes.
From these definitions one can conclude that CSR should:
Koers 74(1 & 2) 2009:299-304

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Corporate social responsibility: a personal reflection on Clover Mama Afrika

• improve the quality of life of a company’s workforce, their families, local communities and society at large;
• contribute to development; and
• be extraneous to regular business activities.
Although these