1.0 Introduction
For ages the primary “responsibility” of business has only been finding ways to increase money which in turn would increase shareholder value. To put it differently, Corporate Financial Responsibility has been the driving force of most business, if not all. However, in the recent decade the driving force was redefined as Corporate Social Responsibility, which covers all social, financial and environmental responsibilities.
1.1 Corporate Social Responsibility
Sir Geoffrey Chandler defines corporate social responsibility (CSR) as conducting transparent business practices that are based on ethical values, compliance with legal requirement, and respect for people, communities, and the environment. According to the Social Responsibility of the Businessman, CSR is defined as “the obligations of business to pursue those policies, to make those decisions or to follow those lines of action which are desirable in terms of the objectives and values of our society” (Bowen, 1953).
2.0 The potential of CSR in creating sustainable development
The previous driving force had a great potential of exploiting the sustainability of this world at large. This is solely because when a company’s only purpose is to maximize profit at any economic, environmental or social cost. According to the Brundtland report sustainable development is interpreted as the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The definition given by Brundtland report is built under two main concepts; needs and limitation. Needs in a sense is attributed to the essential needs of the majority of the current population, the poor people, to which the main priority should be given. Similarly, the concept of limitation measures the environment’s ability to meet present and future need. The reason to this is, our plant