Alignment of corporate social responsibility with corporate strategy in companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) index

Recent economic crises coupled with corporate scandals have plunged theworld into the greatest financial predicament it has faced in almost a century.Deregulation has empowered business leaders and their subsequentunethical behaviour has undermined the very foundations of the worldsfinancial and business infrastructure. It is perplexing that corporate social responsibility (CSR) spend is the firstarea of business to suffer cutbacks during challenging times especiallysince it is often the lack of ethic that has led to such crises in the first place.The cosmic exploration of CSR over the past 50 years has left academics andbusiness leaders with a lack of causal evidence as to the value of behaving ina socially responsible manner. This research tests the theory that CSR can have strategic implications and ispivotal for organisational sustainability. The research uses four constructs ofcorporate strategy that could be related to CSR, namely: centrality, specificity,proactivity and voluntarism. The research has found that CSR can in be aligned with corporate strategyand assist firms in reaching their long-term goals. It has also found the termstrategic CSR to be relevant in organisations. The paper proposes aframework that organisations can use to approach CSR in a strategic mannerand to create value from CSR. Copyright © 2008, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria Please cite as follows: Tomson, S 2008, Alignment of corporate social responsibility with corporate strategy in companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) index, MBA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03172010-130419/ > G10/106/ag