A lot of activists hate big businesses-to their minds, they are the evil empires spreading pollution in the world’s natural resources, they manipulate and abuse employees and they are not contributing to sustainable development. This led to a number of corporate social responsibility skeptics. They cannot believe that these same companies that engage in CSR are sincere in their efforts
The difficulties of corporate social responsibility can be seen in the public perception of these companies. More often than not, companies are wasteful and unmindful of the consequences of their business operations to the environment and to many people around the world.
These are some arguments directed against CSR.
Shareholders own the businesses or corporations. The argument goes further by claiming that money allocated by managers toward CSR is money stolen from the shareholders.
This argument is a serious allegation yet it does not take into account the fact that businesses do not exist in isolation of the broader community and the world. Since they also partake in the natural resources of the world, businesses also need to give something back to the environment and to the rest of the world.
CSR is time-consuming. There are those who argue that business leaders need to focus on growing the business and not with feel good stuff about making the world a better place.
The best leaders do not just focus on growing the bottom line. Instead, they are able to juggle different priorities and tasks in the company. That is why they are called leaders because they can delegate and they can look for resources that are not available to ordinary workers. As such, this argument, therefore falls down and will not hold water at all.
Let government take care of saving the world. We must focus on our core business.
This government is a hands off approach to the pressing issues of the world today. While it is true that governments need to look after the environment and enforce the laws of the land, without the participation of the citizens and of the business sector, the job of the government will be infinitely more difficult. Actually, in most cases, businesses are much more effective at tackling social issues compared to the government.
There may be some difficulties surrounding the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility. But businesses need to know that they need to take care of the world. After all, their customers-the ones who make their business possible will be affected adversely if they do not do their share of responsibility.
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