What’s wrong with CSR?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has grown into a global industry, with companies and CEOs lining up to show how they contribute social and environmental value to some of society’s most pressing problems. This, of course, is a good thing—better than the Milton Friedman vision of business operating in a context totally removed from society.2 CSR has undoubtedly made a positive contribution. The issue is that there is much that currently sits under the umbrella of CSR, from self-serving public relations to philanthropy, and from supply chain compliance to working on shared social value projects. So asking a question such as “do you think CSR is a good thing?” is like asking “do you think newspapers are a good thing?”—it depends a lot on the content. This diversity of things that are included under the CSR banner, and the lack of a clear definition, means that the label “CSR” is not helpful because it too often obscures rather than clarifies any activity’s relationship with the social contract. In other words CSR as a concept often does not always connect the way the “C” (corporation) might be constrained by the “S” (social) in terms of societal expectations.