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The Concepts Of Csr And Financial Performance

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To measure the corporate social responsibilities and financial performance, the property and concept should be the first concern. This chapter aims to provide a detailed description of the concepts of CSR and financial performance. The framework and theories of CSR and financial performance are analyzed in the following sections. In addition, the measurement of corporate social performance and financial performance are also discussed.

2.1 What is CSR?

After more than one hundred years of improvement, the theory of corporate social responsibility has formed a relatively complete theoretical system. Conversely, there are no uniform recognition on how the concept of CSR came into being among academics.

It is generally recognized that the concept on CSR emerged in the 1920s and was developed by Oliver Sheldon (1924). In Oliver’s book, The Philosophy of Management, firms should meet internal and external needs while produce goods to make profits. As a measure of corporate social responsibility, community interests are far more important than corporate profits. It is the first time, corporate social responsibility links to corporate duty of fulfilling internal and external needs. This laid the theoretical foundation for the following studies. Howard R. Bowen (1953) was one of the first authors who attempted to define CSR. He summarised CSR in his book, Social Responsibilities of the Businessman, as: “the obligations of businessmen to pursue those policies, to make those

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