“Corporate social responsibility has been on the business agenda for the last 30 years. Its antecedents in the UK were the Quakers and other social reformers, who recast the business role and social expectations of business by establishing practices that were designed to improve the communities within which they were situated during industrizaltion.” -  Jacquie L’Etang, Public Relations Concepts, Practice and Critique, p 88.

So, that describes what CSR is and where it came from, but what does it actually mean? Corporate social responsibility – so much is made of this, organisations love to tell us how they are doing the right thing via CSR, but is this really the case? Are corporations really that enthusiastic about doing the right thing-giving something back? Or is it, really a case of company reputation? Aren’t corporations more concerned about how quick they fill their pockets rather having a clear conscious?

In this day and age there is very little trust. We as a global community are sceptical of anyone doing anything good. Good deeds are often met with suspicion. However, on the other hand we are more and more concerned about the details of the products we consume and how that company operates ethically-especially in how that company gives back to the community in which it operates.

The consumer, I think, is no longer happy for corporations to make money and think purely about profits without giving proper regard for the community around it. You only have to look at the Nike and Gap child-labour, sweat shop scandals of the 90s. We are a more conscious oriented consumer. “In other words, the role of business is no longer business alone in the sense of sales, profits, market share and, so on” – Phillip J Kitchen, Public Relations, Principles and Practice, p140.

CSR allows for businesses to give back to the communities they take from. Organisations need to be aware and consider their place amongst the wider community.

However, it is naive to assume reputation plays no role when it comes to companies rolling out their CSR programmes. The argument here is though; does it really matter if the end product results in something positive? The opposite being as Philip J Kitchen expresses in his book Public Relations Principles and Practices, p187, that “actions taken purely for the self-interest of the company are worthless.” A company that uses CSR only to mask their discrepancies or uses it as a way of ‘buying public opinion’ will usually be found out, at the opposite of the desired effect will take place-resulting in the creation of a negative reputation. This is only a short term fix. A real CSR programme will prove itself in the long run.

Corporate Social Responsibility is an important part of corporate public relations in general. It allows and gives organisations the opportunity to act responsibility and be accountable for their role in the community in which they choose to operate in.