what is csr 
corporate social responsibility csr is a self regulating business model that helps a company be socially accountable to itself its stakeholders and the public by practicing corporate social responsibility also called corporate citizenship companies are aware of how they impact aspects of society including economic social and environmental engaging in csr means a company operates in ways that enhance society and the environment instead of contributing negatively to them understanding corporate social responsibility csr through corporate social responsibility programs philanthropy and volunteer efforts businesses can benefit society while boosting their brands a socially responsible company is accountable to itself and its shareholders csr is commonly a strategy employed by large corporations the more visible and successful a corporation is the more responsibility it has to set standards of ethical behavior for its peers competition and industry small and midsize businesses also create social responsibility programs although their initiatives are rarely as well publicized as those of larger corporations types of csrsome corporate social responsibility models replace financial responsibility with a sense of volunteerism otherwise most models still include environmental ethical and philanthropic as types of csr benefits of csraccording to a study published in the journal of consumer psychology consumers are more likely to act favorably toward a company that has acted to benefit its customers 1 as a company engages in csr it is more likely to receive favorable brand recognition additionally workers are more likely to stay with a company they believe in this reduces employee turnover disgruntled workers and the total cost of a new employee for companies looking to outperform the market enacting csr strategies may improve how investors view the company s value the boston consulting group found that companies considered leaders in environmental social or governance matters had an 11 valuation premium over their competitors 2csr practices help companies mitigate risk by avoiding troubling situations this includes preventing adverse activities such as discrimination against employee groups disregard for natural resources unethical use of company funds and activity that leads to lawsuits and litigation csr programs can raise morale in the workplace 3