Wojciech W. Gasparski, Corporate Social Responsibility

Wojciech W. Gasparski

Abstract

The essence of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept  is presented in the paper. It is followed by arguments against and pro CSR in general, and the stakeholder theory in particular. Critics of the theory consider business as a sui generis vending machine to which one put his/her money to augment it, supporting this with ideology diminishing the importance of social context business operate within. Supporter consider business in terms of human action taking into account its praxiological dimensions (effectiveness and efficiency) which expressed in monetary units turns to be economical, and axiological context (ethicality) creating collectively the "triple E". Some of the supporters are involved in ideology too. It forces critics to throw out the baby with the bath water, while what is necessary is to separate theory from ideology. Ideologists on the both sides, however, are unable to do that. It is a task for theoreticians and unbiased practitioners whose wisdom is so important in action business activity included.[whole text]