Demmerling

CSR Overload? A Critical Ana Demmerling

Master's Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Business economics - Business Ethics, Corporate Ethics, grade: 1,5, University of applied sciences Dortmund, course: BWL - Unternehmensethik, Wirtschaftsethik, Marketing, language: English, abstract: The term and concept of "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR), which generally means that companies' voluntarily takeover responsibility for different social, economic, ecological, and culture issues, has gained such popularity among academics and the popular media that it seems to be ubiquitous nowadays. More recent incidents and scandals such as "Nestle - Powder Milk", "Shell - Brent Spar", "Enron", "Parmalat", Sweatshops by different sports equipment and electronic devices producers and finally the financial crisis which made the headlines among many others, which did not make it to the front page, have forced companies to consider CSR even more. But also other issues such as climate change and global warming, human rights situation and terrorism affect how companies conduct their strategies and operational practices today. It is observable that almost every large corporation in the western world makes some effort to communicate how it is committed to social issues that lie beyond its basic profit objectives. Only a brief glance at the websites of multinational companies is enough to notice that companies of many different industry sectors make much effort to present their corporate responsibility initiatives - even in controversial industries such as the tobacco and petroleum industry. The industries claim to produce healthier food more fuel-efficient vehicles, conserve energy and other resources in their operations to make the world a better place. In view of this, CSR begins to be wishful thinking or even propaganda to hide the true face of the business. Doubtless what has come to be called corporate social responsibility is now a key-marketing and branding instrument for many companies. Hence, numerous othe