The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), is being implemented by practically all organizations, and in this age of technology, social media and globalization, the consumers are more aware and any operational lacking by a company will showcase them as ‘bad corporate citizens, impacting directly on the company’s bottom line.
Issues such as disparity in various segments and sectors of society and challenges to the environment have made CSR an indispensable requirement for the organizations to be able to connect the image in a positive manner with the community, the stakeholders and employees.
The concept of CSR has in essence perpetuated within the core an organization, and the concept virtually runs the company, with CSR features being present in all parts of operations.
The effect of CSR on the bottom line is positive, with companies adopting, strategies that are in tune with the popular culture of the community, and stakeholder, issues such as energy efficiency and recycling strategies, helps in attracting and retaining consumers and most importantly, investment in a CSR entity gets a push.
The environmental factor of CSR paying off for a company is agreed by Orlitzsky, Schmidt and Rynes.
CSR also affects the company from an internal perspective since it aids in employee retention, saving the company from the cost of replacing the employee. The strategy helps in difficult times, since the employees and the stakeholders, support the company if they believe in the concept of CSR implemented, so to be truly effective, the CSR programs needs to be in lieu with the employees thinking.
Educating the consumers in relation to the CSR and getting them engaged, is the biggest payoff for the bottom line, since it impacts directly on the brand equity, buying behavior and patterns and most importantly, the engaged consumers act as brand ambassadors by communicating positive word of mouth for the company.
