How the company combine to satisfy shareholders and the demands of Dissertation - 1

How the company combine to satisfy shareholders and the demands of society with no impact on the profitability - Dissertation Example Through these two elements, the reality of the global market, of virtual realities and faster access and exchange of information are realized (Brooke et al., 2004; Chandra, 2008; Soros, 2002; Suarez-Orozco & Qin-Hilliard, 2004), creating a vision of a better world across the globe. However, in 2007, the world has been hit by global economic crisis, which has led to serious difficulties in the lives of ordinary people (Roth 2009; Yandle 2010). The global financial meltdown has put into limelight the relationship and responsibility of businesses to the society as the economic crisis has been precipitated by excessive risk taking of businesses and masking its dangerous actions through, corporate philanthropic, activities (Bordo, 2008; Lin-Hi, 2010; Reinhart, 2008). The notion of economic institutions having social responsibilities has been widely discussed in the past two decades (Campbell, 2007). This coincides with the fact that also in the last two decades the influence and power of corporations have grown due to global presence of multinational corporations and trans- national corporations, which pave for more jobs and resources, higher standard of living and better social conditions (Uccello, 2009). Nonetheless, it should be noted, that the idea of economic institutions of being responsible not only in fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities to the shareholders, but also satisfying the public interest and stakeholders demands have been proposed already as early as the 1930’s (Hemingway, 2002). As such, the concept of corporate social responsibility is not something new, but it has long been recognised that corporations have responsibilities towards, employees, shareholders, consumers, local communities, natural environment and other stakeholders (Hemingway & Maclagan, 2004; Zolsnai, 2006). However, due to the global financial crisis the urgency to look into the purpose and relationship of economic institutions (businesses) in the society becomes ne cessary. The global financial crisis has concretely shown that actions of corporations are not happening in a vacuum, but it has a direct effect not only to the shareholders but also to all stakeholders (Lin-Hi, 2010). In this regard, this research will look into how company combines satisfaction of both the shareholders and stakeholders and on how this can be measured. The research will be mainly dealing with corporate social responsibility; however, the research will attempt to provide alternative insights regarding CSR because the study will be conducted with the experience of the global financial meltdown as its beacon. The experience demands that CSR be re-understood with clearer parameters and measures that will assist people and stakeholders as attempts are made to further clarify the purpose and relationship of businesses in the society. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW In the literature review, current trends and discussions regarding corporate social responsibility (CSR) will be prese nted. The discussion will cover three sections. The first part will be dealing with the nature of CSR, while the second part will be touching on the apparent relationship among CSR, shareholder satisfaction and profitability. Finally, the third part will be about the means undertaken to determine the impact of CSR. To be able to embark on a discussion, the research has conducted a library research. The electronic databases Academic Source Complete, Business Source Complete, Jstor, Google Scholar, PsycheInfo and ERIC have been searched using a