Framing CSR within the context of strategy

Abstract

Much has been written about the role of business in society. More specifically, a dominant theme in the literature has focused on the conceptualisation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and, in the process, has defined what responsibilities firms assume toward society. However, such conceptualisations rarely offer scholarship on how CSR fits into the domain of strategy. Given that CSR is argued to be an imperative that can significantly affect competitiveness, integrating CSR into the core of the firm should not be an after-thought to the development of strategy or a reactive initiative due to external pressures. By drawing upon insights from economic, strategic management, sociology, stakeholder and marketing theory, we frame CSR within six fundamental dimensions of strategy. The exercise contributes to scholarly debate in that it extends current thinking on CSR and to managerial practice in that it offers insight into how CSR might be integrated into strategy for firm ? and societal ? benefit.