How, and to what extent, corporate social responsibility can be coordinated with an organization's obligation to maximize profits for its shareholders. Basically, the two go hand-in-hand nicely, in several ways. The company's main objective is to be profitable, or to maximize profits. In doing so, they provide a nice return on the investment for their shareholders. The company also has a CSR obligation. If the company finds the right way to mesh the two together, they continue profit maximization, and attract additional investors through sustained CSR efforts. Most companies undertake CSR initiatives that include giving back to natural resources that they have taken. Water companies (bottled water) find ways to give back, because they are using a natural resource. They generally do this by conserving various elemental environments, like starting programs to protect rain forests and similar programs. Large companies have recently become involved in various farming initiatives that have agreements whereby the company only buys from farmers that are part of a co-op, and the company donates X amount of dollars to the community where the farm is located.
Many companies have recently started to use suppliers who are certified organic - farmers that do not use any type of chemicals or pesticides on their products. By taking on these types of CSR activities, the companies are showing that they plan on being profitable, and remaining in business for a long time. They're maximizing shareholder wealth and maximizing profits by showing that they are taking social responsibility, and giving back to the communities, to the environment, and to the earth. I think the extent is largely dependent on each company. The larger the company, the more capital there is to work with, and the more CSR programs the company can reasonably undertake while still remaining