Introduction

The way in which business organizations operate in contemporary society has become an established field of investigation. There is a growing yet ‘fuzzy’ societal, organizational and political movement that is often referred to as corporate social responsibility (CSR). This often emerges at the boundary of the business organization and is expressed in changing relations with stakeholders and society at large, leading to an array of new activities that range from philanthropy to debates on social capital and cohesion in business-community Partnerships in, for example, less-developed countries. The picture emerging from this diversity is rich but rather confusing. At a fundamental level CSR appears to be a complex and multidimensional organizational phenomenon. The essence is re-evaluating and recalibrating the relationship between the organization and its wider context. In this respect CSR can be defined as the extent to which and the way in which an organization is consciously responsible for and accounts for its action and nonaction(s) and the impact of these on its stakeholders.