Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Entrepreneurship in India: Exploring the Landscape of Possibilities

The integration of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices into core business processes of companies has been very uneven. Most firms conceptualize CSR primarily as a tool to reduce risks and operational costs. Only a minority of firms is actually using CSR as a means to drive entrepreneurial innovation in the communities around its areas of operation. For a long time, academic discussions and debates on entrepreneurship has been part of either economic research or business strategy research. It is only during the last decade the subject has made its foray into social development agenda of business groups in India in driving economically beneficial models for the community based stakeholders. Few Corporates have recently been investing in fostering innovative small entrepreneurial opportunities for realizing larger social goals of reducing poverty in families and contributing to inclusive human development goals like health, education, increased well-being and quality of life for people through integration of their business promotion activities with the larger market for achieving sustainability. This paper takes the position that companies themselves being entrepreneurial entities would be strategically as well as attitudinally inclined and equipped towards creating entrepreneurial opportunities for individuals or groups of individuals. This strategy has the potential to be an integral part of their strategic CSR initiatives and should prompt other Corporates to innovate and create entrepreneurial opportunities for communities around them.