The Future of CSR

There is no doubt that CSR has been adopted by a lot of businesses especially in the developed world. CSR tends to be seen as a mainstream activity among businesses today. The question is how genuine are these efforts? This brings us to the issue of ethical CSR. Following the debate most of us will say, most businesses are just practicing CSR as a technique to get more profits though a few, as Emily pointed out, do practise CSR genuinely. So what can be done to get these businesses to practice genuine or ethical CSR? Getting profits from CSR is not a bad idea but I think businesses should be encouraged to practice ethical CSR though one wonders how ethical profit making businesses can be. Making profits should not be the motive or the main drive behind businesses practice of CSR. CSR practised this way is used just as another business strategy. The main motive for practising CSR should be a genuine desire to help and improve the society and environment in which these businesses operate. If they get a good reputation and profits as a by-product of this good gesture, then that is fine. Another issue that comes up from this is how do we know the real motive behind these practices?