Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a form of self – regulation integrated into a business model. Over the last few years CSR has been put into the spotlight as a way to drive business forward rather then hold it back. The Forbes CSR Blog Post Six Reasons Companies Should Embrace CSR  the author James Epstein Reeves provides six key reasons why companies should embrace CSR as a way to grow their businesses. Epstein believes companies should embrace CSR because it increases the rate of innovation, it’s effective at cost saving, it provides brand differentiation, long term sustainability, customer engagement and employee engagement. Epstein does say at the end of his post these are the reasons why companies should embrace CSR however, in the real world companies have other reasons. This blog post provided me with ideal insight of CSR as Epstein brought out the benefits of CSR which directly impact companies. Therefore, companies should embrace it as not just way to give back to society and a burden on them however, as way to grow their businesses.

In the 21st century self sustainability is no more the the sole focus of companies as the world and society are demanding companies to develop approaches that are not just for the sustainability of their company however, of society as a whole. The role of CSR within a company is becoming a integral part of a business’s success and the companies that have embraced it rather then taken it as a burden have showed that. For example Coca Cola have taken an approach to CSR as way to reduce costs through using cans that can be easily recyclable and reusing glass bottles. This saves costs as their packaging costs reduce from obtaining recycled aluminum cans and glass bottles to reuse them to package new product reducing the amount of new cans and bottles to be produced.

In my opinion, I agree with James Epstein Reeves that companies should begin to embrace CSR as a way to grow their businesses. Society is beginning to pressure companies to engage in CSR by not consuming goods and services from companies that are not socially responsible. Take the recent scandal with VW and them falsifying emissions, they began to loose sales and are now facing a crisis. Therefore, CSR should not be an after thought, however, a integral part of a business model in the 21st century.

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Picture Links: –

http://www.fahrenheit-212.com/coca-cola-freestyle/

http://www.jasteca.org/mr-ian-dias-abeysinghe-corporate-social-responsibility-csr-award/