Mark J Herlan says counting on CSR to build your business could have huge drawbacks to your bottom line

Recent news changes the mind of Mark J Herlan, Owner of The Examiner. The main role of corporations, as outlined in this article from Ehow.com on CSR, is to create financial gain. Fine tuning your corporate ethos to focus anything other than this can be a risky venture.

CSR is a noble concept on where the company would take responsibility for its effects not only on the environment but also on social welfare. It is a sort of citizenship for corporations in where the corporations do things that would not provide an immediate financial benefit but promote change that is positive within society and the environment.

The main disadvantage to CSR is that everyone needs to be doing it in order for any sort of equality to exist. If Company A is investing resources into CSR activities while Company B is not then Company B will have an unfair advantage over Company A as it will be able to put more resources towards its core business.

Often, people will confuse CSR with “Paying it Forward” which is more of someone does a favor for someone else and later on down the line they have an opportunity to do a favor for another person and so on and so forth. CSR is an ethical position taken by a company in where they recognize the impact they have and take steps to address this.