There are three dimensions with which we can characterize the concept of CSR:
- The self-regulation approach is characteristic of most company-related initiatives. In this case, companies decide about how they want to go about engaging in CSR and what measures they should take to implement it. Here the role of government is limited as the initiatives are taken by the company itself so its liability is very limited.
- In legal regulation, the government is the most important player. In this the legal commitments are enforced on the companies by the government. So the CSR work by the companies depend on their code of conduct or their values along with the legal instruments of the government
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives are located between the two extremes and can be defined conceptually as co-regulation approaches in which stakeholders are involved in a company’s CSR policy-making process. In this, NGOs, business associations, governmental organizations and multilateral institutions, among others, work together in a constructive manner to achieve complementary goals in the CSR process
Taking into account the beneficiaries of CSR, it can divided into two parts:
- Internal CSR – where workers, shareholders and investors are the beneficiaries
- External CSR – where communities, civil society groups, other companies or institutions are the main beneficiaries
In India as in the rest of the world there is a growing realization that business cannot succeed in a society which fails. An ideal CSR has both ethical and philosophical dimensions, particularly in India where there exists a wide gap between sections of people in terms of income and standards as well as socio-economic status (Bajpai, 2001). According to Infosys founder, Narayan Murthy,
“Social responsibility is to create maximum shareholders value working under the circumstances, where it is fair to all its stakeholders, workers, consumers, the community, government and the environment”