CSR Terms

CSR Terms

• Accountability refers to the extent a firm addresses stakeholder needs and demands.
• Accountability also includes an organization accepting responsibility for its actions, transparently disclosing results and being answerable to stakeholders for social and environmental impacts.
• Activism encompasses actions such as campaigns, boycotts, and protests by individuals, nonprofits, or NGOs to promote social, political, or environmental goals.
• The Anthropocene is a geological epoch that began around 1950, marked by significant human impact on the planet's ecosystem.
• Badvertising refers to socially irresponsible advertising, marketing, or PR activities that often result in stakeholder backlash.
• B Corp certification is awarded to companies meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency, as set by the nonprofit B Lab.
• A Benefit corporation is a legal structure in some US states allowing companies to pursue a public benefit purpose in addition to profit.
• Business citizenship involves socially oriented actions by firms to demonstrate their role as constructive members of society.
• Business ethics involves the application of ethical theory to organizational decision-making.
• A carbon budget represents the maximum amount of carbon that can be emitted globally to avoid severe climate damage.
• Carbon capture includes technological innovations designed to remove carbon from the Earth’s atmosphere.
• Corporate citizenship is synonymous with business citizenship.
• Corporate philanthropy involves contributions by firms benefiting stakeholders and the community, often through donations to nonprofits.
• Corporate responsibility is similar in meaning to CSR, but it places less emphasis on the word "social."
• Corporate social opportunity highlights the ways firms can benefit from adopting CSR, countering the perception of CSR as a cost.
• Corporate social performance refers to the benefits a firm gains from implementing CSR, often measured in financial metrics.
• Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the responsibility of firms to meet stakeholder needs and the responsibility of stakeholders to hold firms accountable.
• Corporate social responsiveness involves actions taken by a firm to achieve its CSR goals in response to stakeholder demands.
• Corporate stakeholder responsibility is a responsibility among all of a firm’s stakeholders to hold the firm to account for its actions by rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior.
• Corporate sustainability involves business operations that can be continued long term without harming the ecological environment.
• A CSR Filter is a conceptual screen used to evaluate strategic and tactical decisions.
• CSR deficit is the gap between potential and actual stakeholder value created by a firm.
• The CSR Threshold is the point where addressing a broader range of stakeholders becomes crucial for a firm's or industry's survival.
• Eco-efficiency is an approach to business focused on "doing more with less," emphasizing "reduce, reuse, recycle."
• An Ecopreneur is an entrepreneur who utilizes for-profit business practices to achieve environmental goals.
• Enlightened self-interest is the recognition that firms can operate socially consciously while achieving financial success.
• ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) are criteria investors use to evaluate potential investments based on a company's environmental impact, social responsibility, and governance practices.
• An externality is a cost or benefit from a transaction that affects a third party not directly involved, with negative externalities like pollution being a key concern in CSR.
• Globalization is the free flow of people, ideas, trade, and finance around the world.
• The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a multi-stakeholder organization that measures a firm’s CSR efforts.
• Greenwash is misleading consumers about a company's environmental practices or a product's environmental benefits.
• Human rights are freedoms integral to being human.
• Impact investing involves investments made with the intention to generate measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.
• Lifecycle pricing is an economic model meant to minimize waste by including all costs of a product or service in the price charged to the customer.
• A living wage is a level of pay intended to meet an employee’s basic living standards, exceeding subsistence levels.
• Moral hazard is taking risks for personal benefit when the consequences are not borne by the individual.
• Natural capital constitutes the stock of all resources existing in the natural environment.
• Philanthropy is a donation made by an individual or organization to a charity or charitable cause.
• Pinkwash is when a company promotes pink-ribboned products while also selling products linked to disease or injury.
• Recycling is the process of reclaiming resources from discarded materials for productive use.
• Responsibility means being accountable, with stakeholders defining a firm’s responsibility by rewarding desired behavior and punishing undesired behavior.
• Self-interest is acting in a way that benefits oneself or one's organization.
• Sin Funds are investment funds that specifically invest in companies involved in industries often considered unethical or harmful.
• Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) are financing mechanisms where private investors fund social service programs and receive a return if predefined social outcomes are achieved.
• Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is an investment strategy that considers ethical, social, and environmental criteria in addition to financial returns.
• A stakeholder is any individual or group with an interest in or affected by a corporation's activities.
• Stakeholder Management is the process of identifying, analyzing, and engaging with stakeholders to understand and respond to their needs and expectations.
• Sustainability involves business operations that can be continued over the long term without degrading the ecological environment.
• Transparency is the extent to which a firm’s decisions and operating procedures are open to its external stakeholders.
• The triple bottom line evaluates a business by comprehensively assessing its financial, environmental, and social performance.
• Values are fundamental beliefs or principles that guide behavior and are derived from an individual’s morals and ethics.
• A values-based business is a for-profit firm founded on a vision and mission defined by a strategic CSR perspective.
• A vision defines why an organization exists and the needs it aspires to solve.
• Voluntary Self-Interest is when a firm chooses to act responsibly because it aligns with their values or long-term interests, even without legal mandates.

Strategy Terms

• Business-level strategy involves either differentiation or low-cost approaches.
• Competitive advantage includes competencies, resources, or structural positioning that separate a firm from its competitors in the marketplace.
• Core competence is performing firm processes so well that other firms can't match its performance in this area.
• A core resource is a unique and hard-to-replicate asset of the firm.
• Corporate-level strategy includes decisions about which industries to compete in and whether to form partnerships.
• Differentiation is a business-level strategy firms use to distinguish their products from those of other firms on the basis of some factor.
• The industry perspective views the external environment as the main determinant of a firm's success.
• Low-cost is a business-level strategy that involves firms distinguishing their products via more efficient operations.
• A mission is what the organization is going to do to achieve its vision.
• Operational effectiveness is defined as "performing similar activities better than rivals perform them."
• The resources perspective identifies a firm's resources, capabilities, and core competencies as the main determinant of sustainable competitive advantage.
• Strategies are actions taken to achieve the mission and build a competitive advantage.
• Strategic CSR understands the purpose of the firm based on social psychology and economic theory.
• Sustainable competitive advantage includes lasting competencies, resources, or structural positioning that separate the firm from its competitors.
• SWOT analysis is a tool for identifying a firm’s internal strengths and weaknesses, along with external opportunities and threats.
• Tactics are day-to-day management decisions taken to implement the firm’s strategy.
• A value chain is an analysis that identifies each value-adding stage of the production process.