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 Is CSR (corporate social responsibility) just another management acronym that gets mentally filed away along with all the other corporate spiel trotted out by internal communications departments? High performing businesses show a strong correlation between CSR activities and stronger performance in terms of productivity and profitability than other businesses, according to research. Ethical criteria are also becoming manifestly more significant in both purchasing and brand loyalty decisions among a growing proportion of consumers. The message to businesses is clear – ethical practice, CSR performance and the "bottom line" are more closely linked than ever. 
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Essential ReadingCSR - an introduction
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is also often referred to as business responsibility and an organisation's action on environmental, ethical, social and economic issues. The terms in the area can seem confusing if you don't know the jargon - but don't be put off by this.
CSR? What's that?
Corporate Social Responsibility may have become a hot topic in some management circles over the past few years, but for a significant proportion of ordinary employees, it is a complete irrelevance.
CSR minus HR = PR
HR practitioners have a crucial role to play in embedding a responsible approach to business in which employers 'live' company values rather than pay lip service to CSR.
CSR vital to the future of business
Corporate Social Responsibility is vital to the future of business CBI President Sir John Egan has told the organisation’s annual conference in Manchester. “A socially responsible approach to business is not inconsistent with profitable business.” he said. “Good corporate behaviour is good for business. And what's good for business is good for Britain."
How CSR can help manage risk
Positive actions that reduce the negative impact of an organisation on environmental, ethical, social and economic issues is one way of managing risk.
Latest on CSRCostas Markides: Innovating globallyCostas Markides of London Business School talks to Stuart Crainer about disruptive innovation, innovative change and how the goal of a business ought to be to produce something of value to society – not to maximise shareholder value.
Business schools say it's not all about profitStung by criticism that their curriculums are too narrowly focused on the gospel of shareholder value, new research suggests that business schools are rethinking what they teach.
Responsible leadershipThere's more to responsible leadership than demanding more corporate social responsibility. As John Wells, President of business school, IMD, explains, it is a balance of between getting the right results and getting results the right way.
CEO pay immune from realityBetween 2007 and 2008, the US stock market fell by 37 per cent and 2.6 million American jobs disappeared. But amid the economic chaos, one group has remained immune from the pain. For America's CEOs, the gravy train has just kept on flowing.
Taking risks with risk managementIf there's one area that one would hope has benefitted from additional resources following the financial crisis, it is risk management. But according to a new report, it is suffering from the same squeeze as other functions.
Corporate culture and the new economicsReward for decision-makers has always been determined by vested interest. It obviously suits the men and women themselves to be paid enormous sums, irrespective of any rationale. But what can we do about it?
Women directors 'hounding' CEOs into falling profitabilityCompanies embracing diversity and increasing the number of women at board level may be heading for a profit slump if they already have good governance structures in place, a leading academic has warned.
The MBA oath: a new era of responsibility?From small beginnings, an oath encouraging MBA graduates to behave ethically has now been taken up by students at some 25 business schools. But in later life, will their good intentions quickly be forgotten?
Performance-related pay doesn't encourage performanceRather than encouraging executives to work harder, performance-related pay may actually have the opposite effect. So isn't it time for a wholesale rethink?
Understanding whistle-blowersWhistle-blowers don't do what they do to cause trouble, but because they have tried to raise their concerns internally and have been blocked by their managers.
Failing to build trust in businessWinning public trust is a vitally important ingredient for success in business. So why do so few business leaders appear to make building and maintaining trust a priority?
A creative approach to executive payCompanies need to get more imaginative if they are going to take the poison out of the debate over executive pay, perhaps by putting bonuses into locked accounts that only pay out if long-term targets are met.
No sign of austerity in British boardroomsAmid all the talk of austerity, there has been precious little evidence of belt-tightening among Britain's top bosses over the past year, despite the value of their companies falling by a third.
How business can regain legitimacyThis recession has felt so bloody partly because our leaders have had to dismantle a business model focused on growth and adjust to a world of greater responsibility and state intervention. But without a new culture of transparency, business will struggle to regain its legitimacy.
Buddy, can you spare a corporate dime?Corporate philanthropy is becoming a distant memory as cash-strapped firms struggle to survive. And the long-term consequences for charities, sport and the arts could be profound.
Bonus curbs coming to a boardroom near youPresident Obama's tough new caps on executive pay may only apply to firms that have been bailed out by the government but it'll be a brave CEO who tries to argue that its effects will not ripple across the wider economy.
Will executive pay ever be the same again?Barack Obama is calling Wall Street bonuses "shameful" and UK politicians want to force companies to state the difference between their highest and lowest earners. But is this approach really how to get the best out of people?
Just how important are first impressions?Before they stepped into their private jets to fly to Washington and beg for billions from the public purse, perhaps the CEOs of Ford, GM and Chrysler should have realized that first impressions matter.
Will over-regulation strangle financial services?Onerous regulatory regimes such as Sarbanes-Oxley did nothing to prevent the current financial crisis. And more bureaucracy won't prevent problems in future. What we need is a regulatory environment that encourages fast, decentralized control, not a centralized, rules-based approach.
20 is the magic numberWhat gets rewarded usually gets done. So, when CEOs earn more than 364 times the pay of the average worker, it's only natural they will focus almost exclusively on short term, bottom-line results. There has to be a better way. So what is the appropriate way to pay a CEO?
Who guards the guards?All the discussion about how companies, particularly financial organisations, are regulated seems to be ignoring one glaring structural weakness. That is the erosion of the boundaries between a company's board and its management – between its leadership and management.
Strategy and the crashRobert Heller explains why the Second Great Crash is different from the First but all too similar to lesser crashes in between – and why it was completely avoidable.
Is CSR to blame for America's financial collapse?The collapse of America's financial system is as much down to an failure of corporate social responsibility as it is the arrogance and incompetence of the banking community.
Lax management leaves door open to fraudThe amount companies are losing to fraud is rising. And while you can blame crooked employees as much as you like, the primary cause is lax management.
What's happened to trust ?The Deutsche Telekom spying scandal is just the latest example of an organization in which trust has broken down. So is honesty on the decline in the business world? And if so, why?
Bribery rife despite anti-corruption effortsAlmost a quarter of senior executives admit that their organisation had been approached to pay a bribe in order to retain or win business in the last two years.
Employees the weakest link in IT securityWith staff wandering off site with memory sticks in their pockets, posting confidential information on the web and setting their password as "password", IT security policies count for very little.
Good governance can improve performanceWhile it may never get the blood racing, good corporate governance can boost a company's returns by nearly a fifth, new research has found.
MBA graduates spurn tainted jobsTraditional manufacturing industries are out, so are emerging markets. When it comes to deciding where to work, MBA graduates are increasingly choosy.
Boards learning to love CSRCorporate social responsibility was once dismissed something of a fluffy add-on. But with eight out of 10 top companies now reporting on it, boardrooms ignore it at their peril.
Earlier CSR Stories . . .
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