Title: Growth of corporate social responsibility as a sustainable business strategy in difficult financial times

Authors: Alan D. Smith

Addresses: Department of Management and Marketing, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA 15219-3099, USA

Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become such an important concept that in some situations, it is soon to be required by law that publicly listed companies disclose ethical, social and environmental risks in its annual report. An example of CSR is the growing implementation green buildings, which are not only environmentally friendly, but also using the environment to benefit the company|s corporate reputation through the use of the resource-based view business strategy. Within this article, detailed aspects of CSR-based initiatives are intertwined with corporate culture, transparency, lack of trust in business and the Sarbanes-Oxley experience, as well as Pittsburgh, PA examples of companies utilising green-building technologies.

Keywords: case study; corporate social responsibility; CSR; customer behaviour; customer relationship management; CRM; economic recession; green construction; resource-based view; RBV; sustainability; sustainable development; environmental construction; green buildings; corporate reputation; organisational culture; transparency; trust.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSE.2010.029941

International Journal of Sustainable Economy, 2010 Vol.2 No.1, pp.59 - 79

Published online: 03 Dec 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article