SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY

Organizations have become aware of the need to broaden their objectives beyond traditional economic issues. Thus since the introduction of the concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Sustainability (CS) more and more managers are introducing social and environmental objectives into their decision-making process. On the one hand CSR represents the voluntary commitment of companies to behave appropriately fairly and responsibly with the environment in which they operate. On the other hand CS refers to a business approach that takes into account economic environmental and social issues in a balanced holistic and long-term manner for the benefit of current and future stakeholders. The common denominator of both concepts is the pursuit of social and environmental well-being through business activities. However to what extent can the two concepts be assimilated? are they interchangeable? what are the similarities and differences between the two? under what theories has each term been studied? The book attempts to address these research questions.