The Research On The Strategic Management Framework Of Corporate Social Responsibility

The appearance of more and more responsible consumers and investors has madecorporate social responsibility (i.e. CSR) a business opportunity to attain sustainablecompetitive advantages in recent years. As a result, the combination of CSR withstrategy and relevant strategic management methods has become an emerging researchfield. However, the theories and practices on strategic management of CSR lag behindthe development of CSR strategy theories. Based on these facts, this article choosesthe co-generation theory of righteousness and benefit as the research base andconstructs the strategic management framework of CSR, which includes managerialprinciples, managerial goals and managerial processes. Obviously, this articleprovides not only a new theoretical foundation for Chinese corporations to practicestrategic management of CSR but also a new channel for Chinese academics todevelop such a strategic management theory of CSR further.In line with the sequence of managerial principles and managerial goals andmanagerial processes, this article divides the whole content into seven parts:Firstly, through reviewing the relevant literature, this article puts forward threekey problems connected tightly with strategic management of CSR: how to assure therationality of CSR? Under what conditions will CSR have a positive impact oncorporate financial performance? And how can corporations combine CSR withcompetitive advantages? The first problem among them refers to the formation andrationality of CSR, which may reveals three basic principles of strategic managementof CSR. The second problem among them is related to the conditions to attain CSRstrategy goals and shows the sources of competitive advantages from the CSR strategy.The third problem among them is the core of the whole research and aims at realizingthe goals of CSR strategy, which is connected with the making and implementing andevaluating of CSR strategy. The strategic management framework of CSR iscomposed with the above managerial principles and goals and processes.Secondly, based on interaction among corporations and governments andcommunities, it sets forth the sufficient and necessary condition for the rationality ofCSR and the paths of dynamic evolution to make CSR proper and summarizes theprinciple of power constrain, the principle of proper responsibility and the principleof dynamic risk control. These three principles are the basic principles of strategic management of CSR.Thirdly, it reveals the relationships between the types of CSR strategy andstrategic CSR from the view of dynamics and analyzes the internal and externalconditions of implementing the co-existence strategy and the solution strategy ofrighteousness and benefit successfully by building the Cournot model. According tothe co-existence strategy of righteousness and benefit, the preference and value ofdevelopment and execution of the governments are the key outer factors. However,the size and purchasing power of responsible consumers have important impacts onthe success of the solution strategy of righteousness and benefit. For both of the abovestrategies, the social competence is the key inner factors.Fourthly, it shows the managerial processes to realize the strategic goals. Itcompares advantages and disadvantages of scenario planning with those of otherplanning methods in strategy-making and constructs five scenario planning processesof formulating CSR strategy. Then, it analyzes the dual impacts of commitment toCSR strategy on business and puts forward the implementing system of CSR strategyto control strategic risks and gain advantages. At last, it reveals five interconnectingfactors which are critical to realize the goal of CSR strategy and constructs anindicator system to evaluate the effect of CSR strategy.Finally, based on social responsible practices of big Chinese corporations, itsimply testifies practicality of main conclusions of the above three problems andreveals possible problems occurring in course of managing corporate socialresponsibility strategy at big Chinese corporations.This article shows following innovations:(1)This article constructs a strategicmanagement framework of CSR which is composed with managerial principles,managerial goals and managerial processes;(2)Taking power interaction as a core, thisarticle articulates the principle of power constrain, the principle of properresponsibility and the principle of dynamic risk control which the strategicmanagement of CSR should accord with;(3) By building Cournot model, this articleanalyzes the internal and external conditions of implementing the co-existencestrategy and the solution strategy of righteousness and benefit successfully;(4) Basedon commitment theory, this article puts forward the planning and implementing andevaluating methods of CSR strategy.