Corporate social responsibility - who engages in it and what do they Research Paper

Corporate social responsibility - who engages in it and what do they expect to achieve - Research Paper Example It is imperative to understand that companies have a lot of power in the community as well as the national economy (Anderson, 2008). They often control assets and in many cases they have billions in cash at their disposal of socially conscious investment programs. This paper is going to describe who engages in corporate social responsibility and what they often expect to achieve through the program. Companies are often the ones that involve themselves in corporate social responsibility. In fact, in the 21st century, more companies are being called upon by their share holders as well as other important stakeholders, not only to boost the bottom line but to address some of the country’s most challenging problems. This includes those that are concerned with economic developments as well as environment. It is imperative to understand that although opinions in many cases might differ on the how the responsibility should be allocated across the private and public sectors, the corporate stakeholders and other persons in the society (Coelho, 2003). For this reason, in recent years, companies have been increasingly working with stakeholders in order to understand the concerns as well as views of certain people when it comes to environmental, corporate, and social governance as well as economic issues and issues that are needed to be incorporated in order to address the views and the concerns that exist the company strategic decision making processes. Many companies often care about how effective their branding is and how they are perceived by their customers as well as the general public. It is of importance to note that with everything else in the market being equal, companies that often take an active role in the promotion of their corporate social responsibility programs are in many cases often viewed more favorably than those that do not possess highly visible programs. Therefore, companies often understand that having a