Polytechnic University of the Philippines

College of Education Graduate Studies

MH Del Pilar, Sta. Mesa, City of Manila

DIMENSIONS, PURPOSES AND ARGUMENTS AGAINST

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

A Written Report
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School
Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Sta. Mesa, Manila

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For MEM 650 Corporate Social Responsibility and Good Governance

Submitted to:
Dr. Catherine Q. Castaeda
Submitted by:
Rose Ann H. Zimara

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I. Dimensions of Corporate Social Responsibility

A. According to European Commission
1. Internal Dimension
a. The responsibility towards employees, including their health and safety,
reasonable working hours, diversity in the recruitment process and due
consultation of employees, when considering structural changes in the
company.
b. Responsible management of environmental impacts and efficient use of
natural resources.
2. External Dimensions - Responsibility which extends beyond the walls of the
company to the local community and other stakeholders such as business
suppliers, NGOs etc.
B. According to Social Performance of a Company
1. Corporate Philanthropy Includes charitable donations to nonprofit groups of
all kind. Examples: McDonalds Ronald McDonald Houses for families whose
critically ill children require treatment away from home. The Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation is by far the nations largest philanthropic foundation with
assets of more than 34 Billion Dollars
2. Corporate Social Initiatives Enhanced forms of corporate philanthropy but it

is more directly related to the companys competencies. Example: Logistic

giant TNT keeps a 50 person emergency-response team on standby to go

anywhere in the world to provide support in
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warehousing, transportation, and communications.

3. Corporate Responsibility Everything that has to do with acting responsibly
within society. It includes the minimizing of pollution, using energy wisely,
and providing a safe work environment.

4. Corporate Policy refers to the position a firm takes on social, and political
issues. For example: Patagonias corporate policy includes this statement: A
love of wild and beautiful places demands participation in the fight to save
them, and to help reverse the steep decline in the overall environmental health
of our planet. They donate at least 1% of their sales to hundreds of grassroots
environmental groups all over the world who work to help reverse the tide.
C. Three Major Dimensions
1. Economic Dimension - It refers to commitment to ethical practices inside
enterprises, like corporate governance, preventing bribery and corruption,
protecting consumer's lefts, and ethical investment.
2. Social Dimension - The enterprise should participate in achieving the welfare
of the society, and in improving and caring for the affairs of its employees.
This should positively reflect on increasing their productivity, developing their
technical abilities, and providing them with professional and employment
security, besides health and social care.
3. Environmental Dimension - Enterprises obligation towards covering the
environmental effects which result from its operations and products,
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eliminating emissions and wastes, achieving maximum efficiency and

productivity depending on available resources, and decreasing practices which
may negatively affect the country and next generations enjoyment of
resources.

II.

Purposes of Corporate Social Responsibility

A. Promotes Long-Term Profits for Business
B. Improves Stakeholder Relationships Managers often believe that developing a
strong social agenda and series of social programs will improve the firms

stakeholder relationship. At Coca-Cola, 60,000 employees were surveyed and

reported that corporate social responsibility was the second biggest driver of their
commitment and loyalty to the firm, after leadership.
C. Enhances Business Reputation It is a valuable intangible asset, as it prompts
repeat purchases by loyal consumers and helps to attract and retain better
employees to spur productivity and enhance profitability. Rating Research, a
British firm, created a reputation index to measure a company social
reputation. The index evaluates critical intangible assets that constitute corporate
reputation and broadly disseminates these ratings to interested parties.
D. Attracting, retaining and maintaining a happy workforce - When employees and
management feel they are working for a company that has a true conscience, they
will likely be more enthusiastic and engaged in their jobs. This can build a sense
of community and teamwork which brings everyone together and leads to happier,
more productive employees.
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E. Enhance the health by non-polluting measures.

III.

Arguments Against Corporate Social Responsibility

A. Lowers Economic Efficiency and Profits Any time a business uses some of its
resources for social purposes, it risks lowering its efficiency. For example:
Businesses are told to concentrate on producing goods and services and selling
them at the lowest competitive price. Even though corporate social responsibility
is well intended, such social activities lower businesss efficiency, thereby
depriving society of higher levels of economic production needed to maintain
everyones standard of living.
B. Imposes Hidden Costs Passed On to Stakeholders Many social proposals
undertaken by business do not pay their own way in an economic sense; therefore,

someone must pay for them. For example: if a company chooses to install
expensive pollution abatement equipment. Stockholders may receive lower
dividends, employees may be paid less or consumers may be charged higher
prices. Jonathan Charkham said, When CSR is promoted, one should bear in
mind that giving away other peoples money is easy!
C. Responsibility of Business and Government In Levitts view, it is critical to
maintain a clear dividing line between business and government. The domain of
business is to maximize profit; establishing the rules of the game, so to speak, and
taking care of the general welfare, is the domain of the government.
D. Lack of Broad Support: The idea of business involvement in achieving social
goals is not widely supported by many groups in society.
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REFERENCES
A. BOOKS
Beal, B.D. (2014). Corporate Social Responsibility: Definition, Core Issues, and
Recent Developments. USA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Gupta, M. (2009). Principles of Management. New Delhi: PHI Learning Private
Limited.
Horrigan, B. (2010). Corporate Social Responsibility in the 21st Century:
Debates, Models and Practices Across Government, Law, and Business.
USA: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.
Lamb, Hair, & McDaniel. (2012). Essential of Marketing. USA: South-Western
Cengage Learning.
Mullerat, R., & Brennan, D. (2011). Corporate Social Responsibility: The
Corporate Governance of the 21st Century. UK: Kluwer Law International
Nickels, W.G., McHugh, J.M., & McHugh, S.M. (2012) Understanding Business
Global Edition(10th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Education

B. ELECTRONIC SOURCES
FrontStream. (2013). Why Corporate Social Responsibility is so Important?
Retrieved June 27, 2015 from http://www.frontstream.com/why-corporatesocial-responsibility-is-so-important/.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Principles, Dimensions and Requirements.
(n.d.) Retrieved June 27, 2015 from http://www.ssif.gov.jo/EN/EN/Corporate

SocialResponsibility/CSRGuide/CorporateSocialResponsibility CSR
Principles/tabid/233/Default.aspx
Corporate social responsibility. (2013). Retrieved June 27, 2015 from
http://www.slideshare.net/madangkiramaswaamy/bgs-7?related=2