Corporate Social Responsibility a Business Strategy or a Social Endeavour: Review of Literature for Sustainability Approach

Abstract

Among many scholars globally, there are two schools of thought; one group believes that CSR should be mainly used as a social endeavour and the other thinks it should be linked to the corporate financial performance strategy. This paper aims to analyse the theories behind the social endeavor approach or the corporate strategy approach of CSR initiatives leads to sustainability of projects. The most important factor of all is the continuous support that a government and society at large expects from its corporate businesses in the building of its economy; ensuring projects are correctly selected, being sustainable and offering opportunities to improve corporate performance and society in general. Therefore, this paper focuses on identifying the theories behind appropriate approaches one should take when selecting a CSR initiative i.e. deciding between social endeavor or the strategic perspective in order to deliver sustainability of these initiatives.

Keywords: Social endeavor, strategic CSR, CSR, sustainability, biological environment, social environment, core competencies and satisfaction.