The Management Case for Corporate Social Responsibility

Abstract

Can Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) provide new arguments to "humanize" the theory of the firm and the management profession? Several arguments (the legal, ethical, social and business cases) have contributed to the discussion of why companies should be socially responsible. In this paper I discuss each of these arguments from the point of view of the manager who asks himself why he should be socially responsible. And I add a set of new reasons that make up the "management case" for CSR. In exploring why CSR is good management, this paper explains why ethics and CSR make the firm more human and humanize the task of the manager.