Corporate responsibility is a term which has come to characterize a family of professional disciplines intended to help a
corporation
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and r ...
stay competitive by maintaining accountability to its four main stakeholder groups: customers, employees, shareholders, and communities.
Concept
The professional disciplines included in the corporate responsibility field include legal and financial compliance,
business ethics,
corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethicall ...
, public and community affairs,
investor relations
Investor relations (IR) is a strategic management responsibility that is capable of integrating finance, communication, marketing and securities law compliance to enable the most effective two-way communication between a company, the financial co ...
, stakeholder communications,
brand management
In marketing, brand management begins with an analysis on how a brand is currently perceived in the market, proceeds to planning how the brand should be perceived if it is to achieve its objectives and continues with ensuring that the brand is pe ...
, environmental affairs, sustainability,
socially responsible investment, and corporate philanthropy.
Prevalence
Major membership organizations and media in the Corporate Responsibility industry include
Business in the Community
Business in the Community (BITC) is a British business-community outreach charity promoting responsible business, CSR, corporate responsibility, and is one of the Prince's Charities of King Charles III (formerly the Prince of Wales).
BITC work ...
(bitc.org.uk), BSR.org, the
International Business Leaders Forum (www.iblf.org), Open Compliance and Ethics Group (OCEG.org), Ethics and Compliance Officers Association (TheECOA.org), Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE.org),
WBCSD.org, TheCRO.com, SIF,
CERES
Ceres most commonly refers to:
* Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid
* Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres may also refer to:
Places
Brazil
* Ceres, Goiás, Brazil
* Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
,
National Investor Relations Institute
The National Investor Relations Institute, known as "NIRI," is a United States professional association for investor relations (IR) professionals. Located in Alexandria, Virginia, NIRI is the professional association of corporate officers and inv ...
, ''
Compliance Week
''Compliance Week'', published by Wilmington plc
Wilmington plc is a publishing firm and provider of information and training, specialising in compliance, legal and healthcare publications. The company was established in 1995 and has its headquar ...
'' and EthicalCorporation.com.
Media Coverage
Business Ethics Magazine (acquired in August, 2006 by The CRO, or Corporate Responsibility Officer) has helped to define the field with its 100 Best Corporate Citizens list, published since 1998. The Corporate Responsibility industry, which includes all
professional services
Professional services are occupations in the service sector requiring special training in the arts or sciences. Some professional services, such as architects, accountants, engineers, doctors, and lawyers require the practitioner to hold profe ...
purchased by
for-profit and
not-for-profit companies to maintain their levels of corporate responsibility, was valued by the CRO Magazine at $20 billion in 2005.
In the USA, the failings of corporate responsibility have been closely associated with the
corporate scandal
A corporate collapse typically involves the insolvency or bankruptcy of a major business enterprise. A corporate scandal involves alleged or actual unethical behavior by people acting within or on behalf of a corporation. Many recent corporate col ...
s (
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. ...
,
Tyco,
Citigroup) of the 2000-2004 period and the
Sarbanes–Oxley Act
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that mandates certain practices in financial record keeping and reporting for corporations.
The act, (), also known as the "Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protecti ...
of 2002 which was passed in response to these accounting scandals. Section 302 of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act specifically refers to the corporate responsibilities of the "signing officers" responsible for signing-off financial reports and accounts.
[Sarbanes–Oxley 101]
SOX Section 302: Corporate Responsibility for Financial Reports
accessed 2 October 2020
In the UK and Europe, the term is more generally associated with the local and Europe-wide regulations holding companies accountable to their stakeholders.
References
{{reflist
Business law
Business ethics
Sarbanes–Oxley Act