CSR is the willingness and ability of an organizations to take actions and decisions beyond and above the requirements of economics and law that will jointly advance its welfare and that of the society (David). Corporate social responsibility(CSR) is when a corporation goes beyond making money and engages in actions that results in social good beyond the interests of the corporation which is required by law (McWilliams, Siegel and Wright, 2006) CSR can also be defined as the level to which an organization regards and reacts to matters that are outside legal and economic requirements for continued existence and development (Starling, 1996). Carroll (1979) explained four dimensions of organizational performance that address the total set of responsibilities that a business has to the public. Carroll noted that, these dimensions include; economic responsibilities, legal responsibilities, ethical responsibilities and discretionary or philanthropic responsibilities.

1. BUS 815 : CSR AND
SUSTAINABILITY
MANAGEMENT
,
BY
OKONJI PATRICK . S , Ph.D.
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, UNILAG
sokonji@unilag.edu.ng okonjipat@gmail.com

2. DEFINITION
• CSR is the willingness and ability of an organizations to take actions and decisions
beyond and above the requirements of economics and law that will jointly advance its
welfare and that of the society (David).
• Corporate social responsibility(CSR) is when a corporation goes beyond making money
and engages in actions that results in social good beyond the interests of the
corporation which is required by law (McWilliams, Siegel and Wright, 2006)
• CSR can also be defined as the level to which an organization regards and reacts to
matters that are outside legal and economic requirements for continued existence and
development (Starling, 1996).
• Carroll (1979) explained four dimensions of organizational performance that address
the total set of responsibilities that a business has to the public. Carroll noted that,
these dimensions include; economic responsibilities, legal responsibilities, ethical
responsibilities and discretionary or philanthropic responsibilities.

3. Pyramid of CSR
• Economic responsibilities represent an organization’s responsibility to manufacture
products and render services that is needed by the public in order to sell them to gain
a profit.
• Legal responsibilities explain that, an organization is expected to function under
certain regulations and laws in the society.
• Ethical responsibilities represent those standard norms, or expectations, that reflect
a concern for what consumers, employees, shareholders and the community regard
as fair, just or in keeping with the respect or protection of stakeholders’ moral rights.
• Discretionary or philanthropic responsibilities encompasses those corporate actions
in response to society’s expectations that businesses be good corporate citizens. This
includes actively engaging in acts or programmes to promote human welfare or good
will. e.g. Contributions of financial resources or executive time to arts, arts
education or the community.

4. CARROL CSR PYRAMID

5. BENEFITS/ARGUMENTS FOR CSR
• Better anticipation and management of an ever-expanding spectrum
of risk: Effectively managing governance, legal, social,
environmental, economic and other risks in an increasingly complex
market environment, with greater oversight and stakeholder
scrutiny of corporate activities, can improve the security of supply
and overall market stability.
• Improved reputation management: Organizations that perform well
with regard to CSR can build their reputation, while those that
perform poorly can damage brand and company value when
exposed. Reputation, or brand equity, is founded on values such as
trust, credibility, reliability, quality and consistency.

6. BENEFITS
• Enhanced ability to recruit, develop and retain staff: This can be the direct
result of pride in the company’s products and practices, or of introducing
improved human resources practices, that improve employee morale and
loyalty.
•
Improved innovation, competitiveness and market positioning: CSR is as much
about seizing opportunity as avoiding risk. Drawing feedback from diverse
stakeholders can be a rich source of ideas for new products, processes and
markets, resulting in competitive advantages.
Enhanced operational efficiencies and cost savings: These flow in particular
from improved efficiencies identified through a systematic approach to
management that includes continuous improvement.

7. BENEFITS
•More robust “social licence” to operate in the community. Improved
citizen and stakeholder understanding of the firm and its objectives
and activities translates into improved stakeholder relations. This, in
turn, may evolve into more robust and enduring public, private and
civil society alliances. CSR can help build “social capital.”
• Access to capital. Financial institutions are increasingly incorporating
social and environmental criteria into their assessment of projects.
When making decisions about where to place their money, investors
are looking for indicators of effective CSR management.

8. BENEFITS/ARGUMENTS FOR CSR
•Improved relations with regulators. In a number of jurisdictions,
governments have expedited approval Processes for firms that have
undertaken social and environmental activities beyond those required
by regulation. In some countries, governments use (or are considering
using) CSR indicators

9. ARGUMENTS AGAINST CSR
 Dilution of the Primary Purpose of Business :This argument
states, that the involvement of business in CSR can divide the
attention of managers and weaken their position in the market
that will result to poor performance of both social and economic
goals.
Business Already Has Sufficient Power: Since Business is one of the
most dominant establishments in the society, then it does not need
to take further steps that will enable it to be more dominant. The
society has no desire to give more influence to Business.

10. ARGUMENTS AGAINST CSR
 Maximization of Profit: The traditional economic policy of
maximizing profit is the most established argument in opposition
to CSR. This argument states that the function of Business is
economic in nature. Thus, economic worth is the only measure to
evaluate accomplishments.
 No Accountability: It will not be wise for Business to be
responsible for issues they are not liable for. Thus, business has to
ignore CSR activities and focus on the maximization of profit
until the society can build up means through which proper lines
of public responsibility from business to society can be created.

11. ARGUMENTS AGAINST CSR
• No Social Skills by Business: Most Business men may be deficient
in the insights and expertise to practise social responsibility, since
their point of view is principally economic in nature with an
aggressive focus on profit making. Thus, Business men should not
be relied on to carry out CSR programs as they seem not to be fit
to execute them.

12. SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT
•Sustainability management is a formal and systematic commitment
of an organization to structure all aspects of its core business in ways
that deliver economic, ecological and societal value- added at the
same it.
• It is the ability of organizations to meet the needs of stakeholders
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
needs .

13. objective
• The main objective of sustainability management is to ensure that
businesses are conducted in a manner that will ensure social progress
and equality, environmental protection, conservation of natural
resources and stable growth.
• SUSTAINABLE VALUE CREATION- the desired target and ideal situation,
where sustainability aspects are considered in all dimensions of
conducting business i.e value creation based on sustainability.

14. DIMESIONS OF BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY
• Environmental stewardship- care for the natural environment like
water , land, air and ecosystems and the effective management of
natural resources
• Social responsibility- equitable development of employees( in terms
of quality of life) as well as the society as a whole
• Economic prosperity- creating economic value and ensuring creation
of economic opportunity for both the enterprise and the stakeholders
Sustainability involves-environment protection, conservation of
resources, habitat preservation, biodiversity, recyclable/ pollution-free
products, sustainable/stable operations and fair working conditions

15. PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY
MANAGEMENT
•Support for human rights- Business should support and respect the
protection of internationally proclaimed human rights.
•Labour- business should uphold the freedom of association and the
effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining
•Business should work towards the elimination of all forms of forced
and compulsory labour.
•Business should see to the effective abolition of child labour.
•Business should eliminate discrimination in respect of employment
and occupation

16. PRINCIPLES CONT
• Business should not be complicit human in rights abuses.
•Business should support a precautionary approach to environmental
challenges
•Business should undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental
responsibility
•Business should encourage the development and diffusion of
environmentally friendly technologies
•Business should work against corruption in all its ramifications.