Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)



Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Introduction

In fact, for managers in today's global business world CSR is an acronym that could hardly be left. Basically all of the world's top multinationals engage in CSR in some form and there is almost no country in which businesses have not assumed the test of CSR in some way. “The movement on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has won the clash of ideas.” This was the opening line of a 20-page supplement on CSR in The Economist in early 2005 (Crook, 2005). “Sustainability is often characterised as concern for the triple bottom line: planet, people, and profits. Firms are devising new ways to meet the challenges posed by be socially responsible, be entrepreneurial and innovative, and how to advance sustainably. This paper critically examine Tata Steel Corporation's approach to managing sustainably in this context.

Discussion

Tata Steel Corporation is a expanded steel manufacturer. Tata Steel has manufacturing operations in 26 countries and worldwide existence in 51 markets. Even in a country such as India, in the West sometimes rather snobbishly dubbed an 'emerging economy', a company such as the Tata Steel Corporation prides itself on a legacy of no fewer than 100 years in active CSR. And the contributions by leaders from various companies compiled in this volume speak for themselves. CSR is one of the main challenges for nowadays' business leaders internationally.

There is, however, less clarity about what 'corporate social responsibility' actually means. Apart from the novelty of CSR, one of the key problems is the plethora and heterogeneity of actors in the CSR world. The corporate world is not the sole context in which CSR is addressed in rather different approaches and strategies across the globe. CSR provides an arena for political actors and key players in civil society. It is also top of the agenda on many high-profile political platforms, such as the World Economic Forum, and governments have increasingly tried to influence the agenda, be it at the national level (such as the UK's minister for CSR in the Department of Trade and Industry) or via supranational initiatives (such as the Green and White Papers on CSR issued by the European Union). Furthermore, a burgeoning jungle of consultants, NGOs, foundations and other activist groups is proof of the topic's growing profile. And last but by no means least, this development has been pushed further by a growing number of academic institutes and centres across the globe, which have not only produced more literature on CSR but have also contributed to making CSR a central element of today's and tomorrow's business leaders' education. (Birch 2004)

Tata Steel Corporation's Approach To Managing Sustainably

Tata Steel supports the viewpoint of making a sustainable community in and around its parts of operation and believes this as a natural part of the development of the Tata Corporation. Taking care of the people's welfare in relation to their wellbeing and keeping a green and clean atmosphere has been one of the major interests of ...