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 ...

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 Business ethics (also known as Corporate Ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics, that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business c ...

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 ...

, environmental affairs, sustainability,

socially responsible Social responsibility is an ethical framework in which an individual is obligated to work and cooperate with other individuals and organizations for the benefit of the community that will inherit the world that individual leaves behind. Social ...

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 wo ...

(bitc.org.uk), BSR.org, the

International Business Leaders Forum International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

(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, National Investor Relations Institute, ''

Compliance Week ''Compliance Week'', published by Wilmington plc, is a business intelligence service on corporate governance, risk, and compliance that features daily news and analysis, a quarterly print magazine, proprietary databases, industry events, and a var ...

'' 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 profes ...

purchased by for-profit and

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

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 scandals (

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 compani ...

, Tyco,

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...

) 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