Literature review corrections/CSR case study - Essay Example

After these more general sections there is a specific analysis of the literature on CSR in Greece, homing in on the benefits of adopting CSR in Greece, evidence for the extent of its application in Greece, and barriers or challenges facing CSR implementation in the context of Greece. The literature review concludes with a review some of the very latest research on CSR specifically as it relates to the current financial crisis which has caused on-going severe hardship for companies and individuals in Greece as well as in other countries of the world.

In an early work Davis (1967), highlighted that the theme of social responsibility considers the overall environment and surroundings of the social system with reference to the actions or behaviours carried forward by individuals or organisations in any specific or entire part of the system. According to (Watts & Holmes,1999 cited in Sims R 2003, p.43) CSR is the continuous commitment of organizations to behave in an ethical way thus, improve the quality of life for both their workforce ,their dependants along with the community and society in general.

More recently Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been defined as the “commitment of a business to contribute to sustainable economic development, while at the same time working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life” (World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2004). As Kotler and Lee (2005, p. 3) state, CSR is “a commitment to improve community well-being through discretionary business practices and contribution of corporate resources”.

Corporate social responsibility therefore deals with the idea of protecting and ameliorating the society with reference to welfare and also enhancing business by saving and guarding their interests (Carroll and Buchholtz, 2000). Guthey, Langer, and Morsing 2006 (p. 7) defined Corporate Social Responsibility as a practice of management that is