The Analysis Of Corporate Social Responsibility

The issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been attracting the attention from all disciplines such as economics, management, laws, sociality and philosophy since last century. With the globalization of economy and the stronger social concepts of "focusing on human", the international community has begun to put the appeal of Corporate Social Responsibility into practices, which would inevitably become a universal trend and arouse the attention from all aspects of the society. However, there have been tremendous misunderstandings on the concept of CSR in both the academic circle and among businesses. Therefore, it is urgent to carry out the research on CSR, which is significant both theoretically and practically.The present dissertation begins with the key issues about CSR that have been hotly debated both nationally and internationally, and carries out an in-depth and systematic study on three key questions:Should businesses take Corporate Social Responsibility?What Corporate Social Responsibilities should businesses take?How should businesses take their Corporate Social Responsibilities?The dissertation then further discussed the issues of the influences on businesses by taking CSR and how should Chinese businesses take their proper CSRs. With a combination of contrast analysis, general analysis, standardized analysis and empirical analysis, together with qualitative and quantities analysis, the dissertation thoroughly discussed the above mentioned questions and finally proposed some policy suggestions on how to strengthen construct of CSR among Chinese businesses.The present dissertation is divided into seven parts.Part one (Chapter one): This part mainly introduces the research background and significance, as well as research methods of the present study. The key concepts in the study have been defined. The major content, major creativeness and contribution of the study are also introduced.Part two (Chapter two): This part is a review of current literature related to CSR; some brief comments are given on the literatures. Part three (Chapter three and four): This part is about the theoretical basis and practical significance of CSR. The present study argues that Business Ethics theory, Social Contract Theory and Stakeholders theory have form as the basis of CSR theory. Market Failure, incomplete laws, government defectiveness, social echoic requirements on business, economic globalization and business sustainable development are among the major factors that form as the practical basis for the implementation of CSR. The question of whether businesses should take CSR or not is answered in this part.Part four (Chapter five and six): This part defines the components of CSR and elaborates the ways for businesses to carry out CSRs. CSR consists of businesses' economic responsibility, legal responsibility, ethic responsibility and voluntary charity responsibility. The specific components of CSR may vary in different countries and at different stages of economic development. There are different rules to follow when a business is carrying out its CSR. In addition, different kinds of responsibilities are realized in different ways and methods. This part answers the questions of what social responsibilities to take and how to take.Part five (Chapter seven): On the basis of the previous analysis, a CSR and corporate performance model is constructed under the framework of stakeholder's theory. Questionnaires were used for data collection. With statistical and metrological methods, empirical analysis had been made on the influence of CSR on corporate performance.Part six(Chapter eight): By means of questionnaires and interviews, this part analyses the current situation of the application of CSR in China, points out the existing problems and possible solutions to such problems, and proposes the measures to strengthen the construct of CSR in China.The last part of this dissertation (Chapter nine) draws a conclusion and proposes questions for further research.The major innovation and contribution of the present dissertation:1. Clearly defines the connotation of CSR from the point of view of the relationship between business and society. Distinguishes the components of CSR into four categories of economic, legal, ethic and voluntary charity responsibilities, which explicitly defines the specific content of CSR. Base on such a categorization, the specific methods to take CSRs has also been stated item by item.2. An Empirical study has been done on the basis of questionnaire data to analyze the influence of CSR on corporate performance, leading to the conclusion that taking reasonable social responsibilities can promote the managing and organizing performance of an business. The major findings includes: large-scale businesses take significantly more social responsibilities than small-scale businesses, therefore, large-scale businesses perform significantly better than small-scale businesses in both management and organization; private businesses are doing significantly better in taking community, environment protection and shareholders responsibilities than state-owned businesses; foreign businesses perform significantly better than state owned businesses in terms of shareholders taking CSRs, as a result, private and foreign businesses are performing much better than state-owned businesses both in management and in organization.3. On the basis of questionnaires and interviews, an in-depth analysis has been done on the current problems in taking CSRs in China. The findings show that with the differences between China and western developed countries in social environment, such as legal systems, the atmosphere of voluntarily taking CSRs by businesses out of their own conscience has not yet been created, therefore, the efforts from government, businesses and society are all necessary to promote the construct of CSR. Therefore, a series of policy suggestions on how to strengthen the construct of CSR have been made from the three levels of government, businesses and society.