Doing good socially for businesses

            "Doing Well by Doing Good-: Models of Corporate Social Responsibility.
             The corporate scandals of the past years have raised many questions about businesses and their public interests. To answer these questions the field of corporate social responsibility has grown to great lengths and is now an everyday word in the business world. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is also known as: business ethics, corporate citizenship, corporate accountability, and sustainability (Overview of Corporate Social Responsibility, 1) Business for Social Responsibility defines corporate social responsibility as "achieving commercial success in ways that honor ethical values and respect people, communities, and the natural environment."" (Overview, 1) The issues that accompany a corporation's focus of CSR vary by the type of business, the size, where it is located, and by sector. "CSR typically includes issues related to: business ethics, community investment, environment, governance, human rights, marketplace, and workplace- (Overview, 1) Even though CSR has grown to great lengths in the past years, it still faces many challenges. This paper will examine both the benefits of companies that are corporate citizens, as well as the challenges they may face.
             In the last decade, CSR has grown to great heights. More companies are engaged in serious efforts to define and integrate CSR into all aspects of their business. Now that there is evidence that CSR has positive impact on business economic performance, businesses are more than willing to adapt to these new practices (Overview, 1) "[A] 2002 DePaul University study-showed that overall financial performance of the 2001 Business Ethics Best Citizen companies was significantly better than that of the remaining companies in the S & P 500 Index- (Overview, 2) Research shows that these firms outperform their peers financially-which means that they represent superior management.