10 CSR Trends Reimagining Operations For Global Enterprises

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is no longer an optional strategic move for global enterprises. It is a revolutionary strategy that reshapes businesses' future in today’s competitive landscape. CSR activities couple purpose with impact, from virtual volunteering for employees to facilitating diversity, equality, and inclusion. Let’s find out the top 10 corporate social responsibility trends among global enterprises that are changing the way businesses operate and achieve their sustainability goals.  

History of Corporate Social Responsibility

Although the origins of the current concept of corporate social responsibility have a wide history, it is mainly a creation of the twentieth century. To understand the context in which CSR developed, we consider the Industrial Revolution as the starting point. In the mid-1800s, criticisms about the employment of women and children in factories began to emerge. The well-known management historian, Daniel A. Wren, noted that reformers in Great Britain and America saw the factory system as responsible for many social problems, including poverty, labor unrest, slums, and child and female labor. The industrial welfare movement at that time was a mix of philanthropy, humanitarian efforts, and business strategies. Industrialists like John H. Patterson of the National Cash Register played a key role in shaping the industrial welfare movement. The welfare schemes aimed to prevent labor issues and boost performance through business and societal actions.

The second phase, known as the “trusteeship management” in the development of social responsibility, emerged in the 1920s and 1930s. Trusteeship involved corporate managers taking on the responsibility for maximizing stockholder wealth and creating and maintaining an equitable balance among other competing claims, such as claims from employees, customers, and the community. 

Philanthropy or corporate contributions have been instrumental in the development of CSR since the beginning of the 1920s. During this period, the corporations were seen as institutions that had social obligations to fulfill. As businesses flourished in the 1940s, companies believed they were being socially responsible by standing up as an anti-Communist institution.

Patrick Murphy (University of Michigan Business Review, 1978) classified four CSR eras before and after the 1950s. He identified the period up to the 1950s as the 'philanthropic' era, in which companies donated to charities. Following this, the 'awareness' era encompassed the period of 1953-67, during which the overall responsibility of businesses and their involvement in community affairs gained momentum. Subsequently, the period from 1968-73 was referred to as the 'issue' era, in which companies started focusing on issues like racial discrimination, urban decay, and pollution. Finally, with the 'responsiveness' era during 1974-78, businesses began taking serious management and organizational actions to address CSR issues.

In 1979, Archie B. Carroll defined Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as the social responsibility of business, encompassing the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time. In the 1980s, the core concerns of CSR started to be recast into alternative concepts, models, or theories. For instance, stakeholder theory, proposed by R. Edward Freeman, focuses on the relationships and responsibilities organizations have towards all parties affected by their actions. Corporate social performance (CSP) refers to how well a company meets its responsibilities in practice. 

From Thomas M. Jones to R. Edward Freeman, several theorists contributed to the discussion of CSR. During the 1990s, the CSR concept served as the building block for other complementary themes or concepts. Themes like business ethics, stakeholder theory, CSP, sustainability (meeting present needs without compromising future generations), and corporate citizenship (a company's responsibilities to society as a whole) continued to grow. By the twenty-first century, the meaning of CSR paved the way for empirical research on the topic. Soon, CSR best practices took center stage.

The history of CSR clarifies that social responsibility has both ethical and business components.  In today’s world of global competition, CSR can be sustainable only so long as it continues to add value to corporate success.

Top 10 CSR Trends Reshaping Global Enterprises

Global enterprises stand at the frontier of leaving footprints for other businesses to follow. Global companies operate under intense scrutiny from investors, governments, consumers, and communities. Any mishap can lead to damage to a long-standing reputation built over decades. With a strong commitment to CSR, companies can set themselves apart, helping not only communities but themselves by building loyalty, trust, and long-term success. Below are the top 10 CSR trends that global enterprises must follow to build an unmatched reputation in the competitive business world-

1. Volunteering Virtually for Employees

Volunteering employees virtually through online tutoring, fundraising, and crisis counseling makes it easy for them to contribute to causes they care about. Many global companies adopt virtual volunteering programs for their cost-effectiveness, location flexibility, and extensive reach. 

2. Aiding Small Businesses

Helping small businesses flourish by investing in them is one of the most effective CSR activities. As small businesses have limited resources and capital to carry out business operations, large organizations can support them with the required funding to grow.

3. Going Green with Technologies

It would be interesting to know how green technologies are shaping modern business models and helping them stay competitive in their CSR practices. CSR can influence green technology innovation by increasing financing. By delivering products, systems, and services that are designed to be environmentally friendly, global enterprises can contribute to reducing environmental impact.  

4. Fostering Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion Activities

Gender equality remained at the forefront of CSR trends, promoting fair compensation for women. Also, companies have aimed to reduce social discrimination by hiring ethnic and racial minorities. Many global companies publish their DEI report to ensure transparency in their practices. 

5. Maintaining Business Transparency

Customers and stakeholders prefer businesses that ensure transparency. As part of the current CSR trends, companies now provide a glimpse of their operations to ensure stakeholders’ loyalty.

6. Localizing Business Model

Local businesses often struggle to grow amidst the cutthroat market competition and lack of opportunities. As the latest CSR trend, the localization of these businesses by large enterprises is gaining popularity. 

7. Purpose-Driven Business Storytelling

Brands use their CSR initiatives to highlight their purpose-driven actions, making an emotional connection with stakeholders.

8.  Facilitating Employee Activism

Cultivating a workplace culture where employees can speak their mind is one of the most crucial CSR trends observed in the business world. 

9. Accelerating Philanthropy

Companies must engage in more charitable work to serve the community as much as possible as part of their CSR initiatives.

10. Embedding ESG into Core Functions

By embedding environmental, sustainable goals (ESG) into core functions, global enterprises tend to reduce environmental impacts driven by operations like manufacturing, supply chain management. With activities like waste management, using renewable sources, and others, these companies achieve their environmental and sustainability objectives.

With The Silicon Journal,  we intend to inform our readers on topics like CSR and others that are contributing to the global business trends. This business magazine aims to publish articles, blogs, news, and profiles that empower readers.