Integrating corporate responsibility principles and stakeholder approaches into mainstream strategy

Introduction
Since the early 1990s, corporate responsibility issues have attained prominence in the
political and business agenda. The need for a more pro-active role by states, companies
and communities in a development process aimed at balancing economic growth withenvironmental sustainability and social cohesion has motivated the following three
interlinked business movements:
1. Corporate social responsibility (CSR).
2. Corporate sustainability.
3. Worldwide reforms on corporate governance.
CSR and corporate sustainability involve assessment of the company’s economic, social
and environmental impact, taking steps to improve it in line with stakeholder requirements
and reporting on relevant measurements. Corporate governance reflects the way
companies address legal responsibilities and therefore provides the foundations upon
which CSR and corporate sustainability practices can be built to enhance responsible
business operations.
The CSR and corporate sustainability movements are building an impressive momentum
with support from governments and the investment community through socially responsible
investing (SRI) and associated corporate sustainability indexes. There is no doubt that
businesses are doing far more than ever before to tackle the sustainability challenge by
recognizing their social responsibilities, reducing their environmental impacts, guarding
against ethical compromises, creating governance transparency and becoming more
accountable to their stakeholders. However, it is widely recognized that CSR and corporate
sustainability as business practices remain isolated from mainstream strategy and therefore
mainstreaming has become the key challenge for the corporate responsibility movement.