Taking Corporate Social Responsibility as Growth Strategy

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been of great interest to many practitioners and researchers. Although this topic has been in hot discussion for the past few decades, many concerns and debates remain. In recent years, increasing evidence has demonstrated that there exists a positive relationship between CSR and firm performance, which negates conventional thought that CSR is an unavoidable additional cost to a firm. In fact, CSR can facilitate a positive value of a firm from the perspectives of marketing, innovation, management, and ownership. Thus, this chapter argues that CSR should not merely serve for the window-dressing purpose, yet it should be incorporated into practical business operations and then become key corporate growth strategy as a firm grows in size.