Corporate social responsibility

In an increasingly competitive business world, many companies are expected to address a number of new and existing challenges. Uncertain economic times, changes in consumer demographics and other external demands are some of the pressures placed on contemporary THE organizations. Amidst these developments, CSR has emerged as a relevant issue in the corporate world, most noticeably in the past two decades. The THE industry has responded to, and been actively involved in, CSR initiatives in various innovative ways (Lee and Heo, 2009). As early as the 1960s, scholars and practitioners were considering the positive outcomes associated with CSR for organizations' reputations as well as employee health and wellbeing outcomes (Salzmann et al., 2005). However, the 'strategic business case' for CSR and strategies to maximize business objectives through CSR have only recently been explored.