Corporate Social Responsibility in Controversial Industries or How to Fail Spectacularly

Abstract

The present study is a critical appraisal of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the certain type of the industry players who manage to conceal their detrimental core businesses behind CSR façade. Accordingly, the paper explores existing controversies between theoretical understanding and practical implementation of CSR, as well as the failure of the legal framework concerning CSR reporting. The paper suggests the following as a remedy for the existing problems: denotational refinement of CSR from versatile to explicit, inclusion of constructive criticism through NGOs, the inception of common framework vis-à-vis CSR reporting, and ranking/monitoring of companies by third-party organizations.