When a company exists in the society, sustaining itself with the production, marketing and sale of goods, it becomes morally obliged to become a stakeholder in the society and the surroundings. Now, aside from going forth with its primary objective of building a powerful business model, the company is encouraged to do something for the society bound by ethical agreements to try and help build the society they sell their goods to.
That is exactly what CSR – which stands for Corporate Social Responsibility looks after. Business Dictionary defines CSR as "A company’s sense of responsibility towards the community and environment (both ecological and social) in which it operates. Companies express this citizenship through their waste and pollution reduction processes, by contributing educational and social programs and by earning adequate returns on the employed resources."
A more comprehensive perspective includes philanthropy and voluntary services, the nuances of which are mentioned later in this post, but on a ground level CSR is a mutual agreement between the consumers and the corporates to help each other out. No written document needed. It’s just a show of good faith, you could say.
Ultimately business is business and no act is done with a selfless motive in its entirety. Studies have shown that CSR benefits the company concerned in the long run although from an economic standpoint it comes across as a letdown not being able to focus all energies at marketing and management. What happens here is by helping out in areas not-of-interest (at least from a business perspective) the company increases and builds on its public relations creating a positive environment and an impact for the company and its employees to function in.
The TBL or Triple Bottom Line as the term was coined by John Elkinton is one way of evaluating CSR. In a way it sort of is the legal retelling of CSR. People, Planet and Profit. People referring to fair labor practices and human resource management in the municipal of operation, Planet pointing to sustainable environmental practices and Profit dictating the economic value of the stakeholder after deducting all costs incurred. Large Public Sector Organizations like the United Nations adhere to TBL with smaller ones doing the same but with no written agreement.
What CSR does for up and coming projects like ours is an interesting story altogether. Because we a student project it comes under the purview of a not for profit non-governmental organization. Now, under section 80G of the IT rule manuscript sponsoring or rather in this case, donating to non- profit organizations is an indirect beneficiary to the company that does giving a 50% reduction in taxation rates. Moreover sponsorship here cannot be looked upon as any kind of investment or advertising opportunity but the package can be easily brought under the purview of CSR.
This benefits both parties aside from the usual benefits such as access to a pool of future engineers, advertising opportunities, national and international coverage and what not. Apart from that, the company by itself doesn’t have to invest time and resources on CSR by having their HRs volunteering instead having student projects do them.
CSR ultimately is a boon to society even if by economist POV it might seem like a waste of immediate time. Encouraged and invested in by various governments, CSR seems to be a leading reason and the companies show interest in investing in student projects.
A more comprehensive perspective includes philanthropy and voluntary services, the nuances of which are mentioned later in this post, but on a ground level CSR is a mutual agreement between the consumers and the corporates to help each other out. No written document needed. It’s just a show of good faith, you could say.
Ultimately business is business and no act is done with a selfless motive in its entirety. Studies have shown that CSR benefits the company concerned in the long run although from an economic standpoint it comes across as a letdown not being able to focus all energies at marketing and management. What happens here is by helping out in areas not-of-interest (at least from a business perspective) the company increases and builds on its public relations creating a positive environment and an impact for the company and its employees to function in.
The TBL or Triple Bottom Line as the term was coined by John Elkinton is one way of evaluating CSR. In a way it sort of is the legal retelling of CSR. People, Planet and Profit. People referring to fair labor practices and human resource management in the municipal of operation, Planet pointing to sustainable environmental practices and Profit dictating the economic value of the stakeholder after deducting all costs incurred. Large Public Sector Organizations like the United Nations adhere to TBL with smaller ones doing the same but with no written agreement.
What CSR does for up and coming projects like ours is an interesting story altogether. Because we a student project it comes under the purview of a not for profit non-governmental organization. Now, under section 80G of the IT rule manuscript sponsoring or rather in this case, donating to non- profit organizations is an indirect beneficiary to the company that does giving a 50% reduction in taxation rates. Moreover sponsorship here cannot be looked upon as any kind of investment or advertising opportunity but the package can be easily brought under the purview of CSR.
This benefits both parties aside from the usual benefits such as access to a pool of future engineers, advertising opportunities, national and international coverage and what not. Apart from that, the company by itself doesn’t have to invest time and resources on CSR by having their HRs volunteering instead having student projects do them.
CSR ultimately is a boon to society even if by economist POV it might seem like a waste of immediate time. Encouraged and invested in by various governments, CSR seems to be a leading reason and the companies show interest in investing in student projects.