What is corporate social responsibility?

The notion of social responsibility, as it applies to the business sphere, has gained enormous importance in the business world. The growing awareness among consumers of how their behavior can have a major impact on the world has contributed to this concept becoming increasingly relevant in recent decades.

In this article, we will try to define this term, explain its implications, and show why it is important for everyone, whether business owners and managers or consumers, to know what it is about.

The concept of corporate social responsibility

This is a broad term that includes all the ways in which a company seeks to guide its behavior and decisions with ethical considerations and the impact on the world and society in mind. In other words, the company strives to be a positive element in the society in which it operates at different levels, such as the social and environmental.

The concept, which has also been given various other names, such as corporate citizenship or corporate social responsibility, already has a long history. It began to receive increasing attention from companies in the 1970s, and since then it has also been a frequent subject of academic research.

In 2010, the International Organization for Standardization issued ISO 26000, a guide to corporate social responsibility, developed with the contribution of 500 experts. This document helps define the term and sets guidelines and recommendations for all kinds of organizations. Unlike other ISOs, it does not establish criteria and is intended only as a guide, so compliance with it cannot be quantified or certified.

Why is it important?

Corporate social responsibility can represent a fundamental contribution to solving the challenges that today's societies face and has had positive effects in various areas.

On the other hand, from the company's point of view, it promotes a good brand image among the public and good morale among employees. A study shows that an active stance on social responsibility also attracts more trust from investors.

Many companies invest in this type of measure as part of their image and values. Of course, it is difficult to objectively quantify the effects of any individual measure. These effects depend on the company, the public, and many factors. However, existing studies conclude that social responsibility is a good investment, including from a cost-benefit perspective. We can also note in this regard that a recent study shows that, between a company with a higher-quality service or product and one that is associated with more ethical behavior, most people favor the latter.

Additionally, these practices serve as a way to mitigate risk: ethical behavior entails fewer problems, in the form of lawsuits, boycotts, dissatisfied employees, bad publicity, etc.

Types of corporate social responsibility

The specific measures taken can generally be categorized into 4 types: philanthropic (the most direct example is donating money to social causes), ethical (promoting fairness, good practices, and honesty within the company's activities, for example in product manufacturing or hiring), economic (making economic decisions that benefit society, for example in research into new products or job creation), and environmental (which concern sustainability and the preservation of the environment).

Some examples of social responsibility initiatives are: volunteer work, activism and campaigns in favor of social causes, reducing pollution, reducing the consumption of natural resources, recycling, creating products that save the environment, and paying attention to the fair treatment of all employees.

How to be more socially responsible

One of the central pillars of social responsibility is sustainability. With the serious challenges the world faces in environmental terms, the need to find solutions has become urgent. The popularization of online shopping has contributed to the problem. In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the traffic and pollution generated by the delivery of packages.

A strategy that has proven tremendously effective in this area is non-home deliveries through the use of distribution points. InPost is the European leader in this type of distribution, which has numerous advantages, not only environmentally, and has more than 2,000 Pack Points in Portugal.

Join us today and experience these advantages for yourself.