Abstract

To achieve true sustainability of this planet, both the public and private sectors have to pursue corporate social responsibility (CSR) with ecological consciousness. The sustainability concept has been debated for long without true commitment from either business or government. Therefore, today we are trying to mitigate disaster that is emanating from indiscriminate use of resources both natural and manmade, insatiable greed for materialistic acquisitions, increasing inequality in distribution of the fruits of development, and rampant corruption at all levels. To address this ecological sustainability challenge, we cannot depend on the government alone. Business and social sector actors also have to contribute substantially. Various interpretations of CSR have been offered as per the value system of the proponents. The left-oriented critics see CSR more as a propaganda by companies to boost their brand image. This stems from the distrust about the motives of any business beyond earning profits. The right wing proponents strongly uphold Milton Friedman’s ideology that earning profit is the main purpose of business and any investment that does not add value to the financial returns for the business is mere waste of resources. Besides the above criticisms another main roadblock has been the lack of any agreed-upon measures to quantify the social or environmental return of money spent on CSR.In spite of these viewpoints, today, there is a widespread consensus that CSR is here to stay and a “universal acceptance of the ideology … that it refers to business engagement that creates economic value for itself while meeting social, ethical, legal, and public expectations”. This view also seems to lay more emphasis on the economic aspect of the CSR than on the concept of responsibility to the society and the ecological footprint of business activities. The business world has to relook at their corporate social responsibility from a very different lens. Businesses have the resources and expertise to offer solutions to the environmental and socio-economic disasters that are staring at our face today. The corporate world has to start visualizing CSR from three main perspectives: The inner corporate level, the intermediate national level, and the outer global level. Organizations also have to differentiate between philanthropic activities and institutionalized responsible practices. Businesses have to review their strategy to include CSR in their production, operation, and distribution practices which deals with the idea of “cradle to grave and at times rebirth”. This may require a change in their value chain which would operate at the internal and intermediate levels or a total overhaul to impact the eco system which will impact the global level. These will help to understand the disaster risks that need to be addressed to avoid large scale Mephistophelean results in the ecological sphere.