Why bother with CSR? The Top 10 Benefits of Engaging in Corporate Social Responsibility: The Business Case Why bother with corporate social responsibility? Why go to such efforts to behave as a good corporate citizen and demonstrate that you can measure your activities and performance, in terms that mean something to your stakeholders? Corporate Social Responsibility is all about a company knowing, managing and improving | its impact on the economy, the environment and society. Increasingly, people with a stake in that company, eg clients, suppliers, employees, funding organisations, advocacy groups, the community, (and more), expect a company to be doing this. They also, increasingly, are expecting a company to go beyond simply 'what is required', legislation and complying with rules and regulations. They want to see that a company is: - transparent in its communication of its performance - ethical - well managed, and has strong Governance procedures - responsive to the needs and views of its stakeholders - responsible in its actions, attitudes and values, and - able to be trusted. To many (still sadly too many) companies, this is seen as 'all too hard' and just another thing to distract them from - in their eyes - conducting the business of business: making a profit. What they don't realise is that: - they are often already conducting corporate social responsibility, to some extent - and therefore the transition to doing this in a structured way is not as great as anticipated - as well as benefiting the economy, the environment and society, there is a business case in engaging with CSR for the company itself. Below are the top ten reasons for engaging with CSR (as defined by csrnetwork and Radley Yeldar). Increased profit Several academic studies have shown a direct correlation between socially responsible | business practices and positive financial