The document summarizes the evolution of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from version 1.0 to the need for version 2.0. It argues that CSR 1.0 has failed to meet the speed and scale required to address issues like poverty and environmental degradation. CSR 2.0 would involve greater stakeholder involvement, transparency, and a shift to more decentralized and collaborative approaches. It outlines five principles for CSR 2.0: connectedness, scalability, responsiveness, duality, and circularity. The goal of businesses should be reoriented from profit to making positive contributions to society in a sustainable way.

1. Summary of Evolution and Revolution of CSR
(By Wayne Visser)
NAME: Warda Khawar
ROLL NUMBER: 048
CLASS: MBO-3
SUBMITTED TO: Sir Uzair Farooq
SUBMITTED ON: 17th May , 2012
COMSATS Institute of Information and Technology , Lahore

2. The introduction of the paper starts with a brief introduction of the rise and fall of CSR. It
states that CSR is not a new concept rather it is being practiced under different names by
different people. The modern concept evolved in 1800 but it was with a book called "the
Social Responsibilities of a businessman" in 1950 that it gained popularity. Over the time
different people have defined it and so many different definition of CSR exist today.
However, the 1st generally accepted definition was given in 1970 by Archie Caroll who
focused on the economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. Many different
standards and CG codes are now in practice.
The writer states that having a look at a broader picture, CSR has failed on the entire four
dimension mentioned above and has presented some facts and figures. The CSR is declining
and we all should accept the fact that the old concept of CSR and the old CSR practices are
no longer viable.
Now that the CSR is failed, what are the reasons of its failure or what basically caused it. The
3 reasons for the failure are as follows:
Though the international standards are being adopted which require continuous
improvement and the companies are in fact adopting them. The CSR and the solutions
to the concerns and problems are still not meeting the required speed and scale. There
should be an incremental CSR that matches the pace of the evils like poverty,
environmental degradation, sustainability crisis and other such concerns.
CSR in the organization lack the top management commitment. This is because the
top management focuses more on the interests of the shareholders. Moreover, it is
regarded as a secondary function and not as a way of doing the business. Just a CSR
department or a CSR manager is appointed for the purpose.
CSR is regarded as uneconomic by many CEOs. A little number of the CSR activities
may pay the company back positively in a shorter span of time. But it is something
that is long-term oriented. And the CEOs wonder if the CSR pays back at all.
Moreover this is uneconomic for the companies to fulfill their social responsibility as
the financial markets do not regard and appreciate it up till now.
The paper states that we should come out of the illusion that CSR is good and effective and
should accept the fact that CSR's first phase (CSR 1.0) is over. We should move on towards
the next generation of CSR like the web 1.0 has moved to web 2.0. Just like Web 2.0 is more
collaborative, CSR 2.0 should also be more interactive and stakeholder driven (not just
stockholder driven). Two tables are presented, one relating Web 1.0 to CSR 1.0 and the other
relating Web 2.0 to CSR 2.0. This is done to show how the new CSR can come into existence
following the route taken by web. CSR 2.0 should have the following:
Stakeholder involvement, panels and innovative partnership
Transparent reporting
Shift of power from centralized to decentralized

3. CSR 2.0 should stand on five pillars or the five principles which are mentioned below:
Connectedness: Companies should move towards being more connected to all the
stakeholders than to the shareholders only, pursuing the collective interest and
taking care of the concerns of all.
Scalability: CSR should move towards being a massive scale effort than to being
mere pilot projects that do not match the scale and urgency of the problems like
poverty and climate change.
Responsiveness: Companies should be responsive to stakeholders' concerns in an
entirely new way. There should be an analysis as to whether a company is a part
of a problem or a solution and the responsiveness should be directed accordingly.
Moreover this unique responsiveness requires more transparency regarding their
reporting and the methods used for dealing with wastes, pollution, global warming
and other such issues.
Duality: Duality requires the companies to come out of their 'either this or that'
thinking. Rather companies should adopt more of an 'and/both thinking'. This
means that a company is following the international standards as well as being
responsive to the local requirements. They are culturally responsive without
ignoring the universal principles.
Circularity: This principle states that the companies should realize the
importance of recycling and the product sales economy should now become a
service lease economy. By doing this a product after being used by the consumers
will be returned to the company, recycled and used for making a new company.
Moreover a company should deal with its own wastes, should start making
products of the wastes after recycling processing and should also groom its human
and social capital by every mean.
When CSR 2.0 will be in place the companies will not work for the defense of their
reputation. Rather they will adopt CSR as a way of doing business. CSR 2.0 will become the
part of the operations of a business, performance appraisals, and the market incentive
systems. CSR indexes will move towards CSR rating systems (Like credit Rating) which will
be used to for decision making and the analysis.
In CSR 2.0, the new DNA of a business (as the writer names it) focuses on the new
interpretation of CSR as the "Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility". "Sustainability"
should be the ultimate objective of the new "CSR 2.0 businesses" and the "Responsibilities"
should be a roadmap to that sustainability. A Double-Helix Model is also presented in the
paper to gain a better understanding of this new interpretation of CSR.
Having said all that was mentioned in the paper, what should be the purpose of the business
now? Clearly it shouldn’t be making profit rather there should be the reorientation of the
business to make positive contributions to the society in a productive way. CSR should
become more of a way of doing the business now. A new responsible and sustainable
business model should be adopted by the companies that contributes in making the world a
better place and hence very easy by the means of conducting the business.