International E-Journal of Advances in Social Sciences

Öz

This paper deals with a very important subject for
both developed and developing countries, one that has yet to be thoroughly
analyzed from an environmental perspective: corporate social responsibility.
Our analysis is highly relevant in our current context, given the increasing
pressures exerted by companies on the environment as a result of their economic
activities. Furthermore, another element that makes this study up-to-date is
the fact that more and more companies have started to pay attention to the
concept of corporate social responsibility and have begun to take
responsibility for these pressures and act towards reducing them, whether out
of voluntary compliance or forced by market conditions or regulatory bodies.
The present study is a historical descriptive-analytic investigation of the
concept of corporate social responsibility and its environmental component. The
aim of the research is to create a historical analysis of this concept and its
environmental aspects at the international level, presenting at the same time
the various organizations and programs involved in its development and in the actions,
that help implement it. The social responsibility of companies, also known as
corporate social responsibility (CSR) or, in French, responsabilité sociétale
des entreprises (RSE), is a fundamental component of the broader concept of
social responsibility. There is no unanimously accepted version for the birth
of this notion or its first proposed definitions. In time, the importance of
CSR has steadily grown, and it became the focus of attention not just for
theoreticians and companies, but also for international organizations, such as
the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United
Nations (UN), the Global Compact Program, the ISO 26000 Social Responsibility
Standard or the European Union. We can thus say that a new stage began for the
evolution of corporate social responsibility, where the most important aspects
are the planning and subsequent implementation of its underlying concepts.
Corporate social responsibility received significant attention from
international organizations, and this served as a strong incentive for the
business environment to adopt the concept. From an environmental standpoint,
corporate social responsibility is becoming increasingly important, due to the
pressures exerted by companies on the natural world. At an international level,
most major corporations have accepted the principle of the responsibility that
they have towards society for the environmental impact generated by their
economic activities. This acceptance has been followed by the adoptions of
internal operational policies aimed at reducing the said impact. Corporate
social responsibility is not just an act of philanthropy or a fad, but a very
serious behavior which should serve as a foundation for the actions of a
corporation and that will naturally lead to long-term profits