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This section will contain more or less unchanging information on definitions, approaches, and models of CSR answering the basic questions of - What ? Why ? How ? When ? Where ? Who ?
During the long and distinguished history of the "company" or businesses / corporates in India and other parts of the world, business leaders have been trying to make a positive impact on the society, communities around them and the world, in some way or the other.
Henry Ford is reputed to have said, "I want to pay my workers well so that they can buy my cars !" This could be interpreted as one form of expression of CSR which had the desire for a direct business benefit.
It is well known that subsequently the Ford Foundation came into existence which has supported worthy causes over decades in distant corners of the world. (www.fordfoundation.org).
There are many such examples of socially relevant institutions (which go beyond pure business interests) created by industrialists-philanthropists : The Rockefeller Foundation; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; the Infosys Foundation; the Azim Premji Foundation; etc.
Of course, the interpretation and realization of CSR has taken diverse forms. To look at the Indian scenario specifically - the Birlas manifested their CSR through building of magnificent temples at many locations across India; the Tatas created various educational institution (TISS, Mumbai; IISc, Bangalore; etc).
So, we believe that it would be constraining and limiting to define CSR in any narrow sense. As long as any company is looking beyond its own immediate business interests and is trying to make a positive difference in the surroundings (with varying radii of influence and impact), we should say that that company is alert to and aware of its CSR commitment.
The actual manifestation of a company's CSR activities and commitments could take myriad forms. The sectoral impact could range across Agriculture; Education (primary, higher, vocational, etc); Health; Women's empowerment; Urban development; Bridging the digital divide; Enhancing employment opportunities; Improving the quality of life of differently enabled / variously challenged people; Improving the ecological environment; etc etc.
Many corporates chip in to ameliorate the disastrous impact of natural calamities (e.g. tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, etc).
There are instances where large and powerful corporations try to influence national policies and / or propagate certain values like Democracy, Human Rights etc. This can lead CSR into some sensitive and even controversial areas.
There is tremendous variation seen in the visualization of the geographic range of CSR. Some companies limit themselves to making an impact on the immediate communities around their factories, offices, etc. On the other hand, many companies strive to make their CSR-related impact on national or even international levels.
It can be stated with a fair degree of exactitude that most CSR initiatives target some or the other under-privileged / needy groups among the society.
Having attempted to define "what is CSR", in the interest of clarity, it would be useful to make some statements about what may not fall under the umbrella of CSR :
Any steps to improve the company's own profitability, e.g. say through energy conservation, should not be put under the rubric of CSR.
Similarly, if the company pays its employees well and / or has very enlightened HRM policies, that does not fall within the domain of CSR.
If the company's business has a direct social benefit - for example, a company that manufactures wind-turbines or one that makes solar photovoltaic cells - they should not claim that they are discharging their CSR.
In a way, it could be said that we at CSRWorld tend to think of a significant overlap between Community Development and CSR.
Like in many other fields of human endeavour and particularly in the corporate world, there is a surfeit of jargon in the context of CSR too - Sustainability; Clean Development Mechanisms; Clean Manufacturing; and many such terms are used with elastic interpretations. For the sake of simplicity and clarity of focus we at CSRWorld believe that as long as the intent is clear, all these various coinages are subsumed under CSR.
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