CR as a role of the firm: redefining the public - private interface and its governance implications

The European Commission states that “CSR is a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis.”  However, this is not in line with traditional governance thinking where the interests of the shareholders are considered of primary importance.

As a consequence, existing national corporate governance models may be unable to facilitate CSR as the reference point for doing business in Europe. These differences in corporate governance models raise questions as to whether the EC's perspective on CSR, and the EC's desire to mainstream CSR on a largely voluntary basis, takes account of the heterogeneity in corporate governance models. In addition, there is equally little understanding of how CSR may fit in existing academic and business education, so that (future) academic and business people may lack the educational background to see the benefits of CSR as a role of the firm and how to integrate CSR in day-to-day activities.

In order to contribute further to the academic field, the business community, and policy makers, this research domain would benefit from further research:

• analysing traditional and emerging theories of the firm with respect to their views on the role of business in society.  developing the theory of the firm where CSR is assumed to be a role of the firm

• extending frameworks for analysing corporate governance structures to encompass CSR. Extending such frameworks should permit an understanding whether, and how, CSR can be incorporated in corporate governance thinking given the national differences in governance models and different governance structures at company level

• assisting policymakers and business people to better understand the impact of CSR on their day-to-day activities

• benefiting both academic and business education since the traditional educational frameworks guiding business practices can be expected to become outdated if societal expectations on the role of the firm are to be more fully incorporated in everyday business decisions.