External CSR Communication in a Strategic Approach

As part of a strategic approach, aimed at assuring mutual benefits for the social cause and the business organization, a good CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility communication is vital for the success of a CSR program. We argue that there is not a problem with the legitimacy of the CSR concept, but rather to its implementation. If a business organization implementing socially responsible initiatives is focusing only on reaping the image benefits from a simple public relations perspective, then it loses all the potential business benefits it could gain from a strategic approach focused on long term real results in a win-win perspective. The fact that the image benefit is one of the most important incentives that a business organization could obtain for engaging in CSR activities cannot be ignored, and that is the reason why we have chosen to analyse the topic of CSR communication, mainly external communication, as an important link in the process of implementing a CSR program, that plays an important part for the success of a CSR program. The approach on CSR communication should definitely be a strategic one, and long already common forms of external CSR communication like web pages or CSR annual reports new means of social media networks have an increasing importance. For the practical part of the paper, we were interested in analyzing how much of the external CSR communication in the Romanian business environment is oriented toward a traditional or a strategic approach.