Carroll, Archie B.

The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral Management of Organizational Stakeholders, Business Horizons, July-August 1991

For the better part of 30 years now, corporate executives have struggled with the issue of the firm’s responsibility to its society. Early on it was argued by some that the corporation' sole responsibility was to provide a maximum financial return to s shareholders. It became quickly apparent to everyone, however, that this pursuit of financial gain had to rake place within the laws of the land. Though social activist groups and others throughout the 1960s advocated a broader notion of corporate responsibility, it was not until the significant social legislation of the early 1970s that this message became indelibly clear as a result of the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Consumer Product Safety" Commission (CPSC). These new governmental bodies established that national public policy now officially recognized the environment. employees, and consumers to be significant and legitimate stakeholders of business. From that time on, corporate executives have had to wrestle with how they balance their commitments to the corporation' owners with their s obligations to an ever-broadening group of stakeholders who claim both legal and ethical rights. This article will explore the nature of corporate social responsibility (CSR) with an eye toward understanding its component parts. The intention will be to characterize the firm' CSR in ways that might be useful to executives who wish to reconcile their s obligations to their shareholders with those to other competing groups claiming legitimacy. This discussion will be framed by a pyramid of corporate social responsibility.