The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review of Concepts, Research and Practice - Article Example

Article review: Carroll, Archie B and Shabana, Kareem M. “The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review of Concepts, Research and Practice”. International Journal of Management Reviews, (2010). 85-105. IntroductionThis case study is a review of the 2010 article by Archie B. Carroll and Kareem M. Shabana, “The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review of Concepts, Research and Practice”. This paper is presented in three parts: first, it will give brief background information on the article; second, it will summarize the article; and third, it will provide a critical evaluation on the article.

In this article review, the main focus is given to the ‘business case’ for understanding corporate social responsibility. It reflects the potential benefits that business communities and organizations derive from engaging in CSR policies, activities, and practices. The article analysis would improve the practice of corporate social responsibility. BackgroundThis section describes the context in which the article was written and the criteria by which the article will be evaluated. It is a recent article which was written in 2010, when organizations had given great emphasis on the concept of corporate social responsibility as an effective tool for enhancing profitability.

The concept of corporate social responsibility works on the idea that business houses have additional responsibilities to society other than making profits for the welfare of the shareholders and for the firms’ better stature. This article will be evaluated on the basis of three criteria such as presentation, authenticity, and significance. SummaryIn this section, the paper provides a summary of the article. This article contains mainly four parts; one, background and historical perspectives of CSR are presented; two, arguments for and against CSR are illustrated; three, necessity of CSR for business case purposes is defined and documented; four, evidence of the business case for CSR is produced.

According to Bert Spector (as cited in Carroll and Shabana, 2010), the beginning of the current social responsibility movement can be traced back to the early years (1945-1960) of the Cold War. The article writers argue that the social responsibility sector underwent tremendous changes during the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1980s, a series of researches were conducted for the further improvement of this concept. In the second part, authors present different views regarding the concept of CSR.

The major argument against the concept of CSR is that the ultimate goal of an organization is to maximize its profits other than resolving social issues. In contrast, arguments in favor of CSR mainly reflect the idea that this concept is the part of firm’s long term interest and international expansion. Then the paper presents different definitions for CSR. The definitions of CSR vary on the basis of their area of focus. Authors opine that the idea of CSR is subcategorized into different classes that constitute a business’ fulfillment of legal, economical, ethical, and discretionary/philanthropic responsibilities.

Finally, in the last session of the paper, empirical evidence is presented to show the various benefits that a business concern may get by practicing social responsibility programs. This part greatly supports the view that CSR programs can considerably contribute to business profitability.EvaluationThis section of the paper provides an evaluation of the give article. The evaluation section is presented in different parts and each part deals with different ideas such as how well the article achieves its goal, what possibilities are suggested by the article, what the article’s shortcomings are, how the article compares to others on the subject, what points are most convincing, and what the personal experiences are.

This article intends to identify whether or not the concept of CSR would add to organizational interests. The writers could effectively present various views regarding the concept of CSR by making reference to previous research studies. Evidently, the article has achieved its goal since it could effectively justify one side of the argument – the concept of CSR would add to long term interests of an organization. At the same time, article also suggests the possibility that the CSR programs would not produce the desired results if they are practiced tactlessly.

The major shortcoming of the article is that it does not effectively defend all arguments against the concept of CSR. This article surpasses the boundaries set by other scholars for its strong organization in presentation and authenticity of arguments. Although the article could successfully prove that CSR programs have the potential to influence the economical growth of a firm, it failed to explain the extent of relationship between CSR and the firm’s financial performance. Finally, in my opinion, maintaining the concept of CSR will greatly benefit a business firm to improve its shareholder values.

Direct comment In total, this paper discusses different aspects of the CSR concept. Initially, the background and summary of the article is presented, and finally the article is evaluated in terms of its presentation, authenticity, and significance. Works CitedCarroll, Archie B and Shabana, Kareem M. “The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review of Concepts, Research and Practice”. International Journal of Management Reviews. (2010). 85-105.