The importance of corporate social responsibility for selected stakeholders

In an era of growing competition, when traditional methods of attracting customers such as offer positioning or cost optimisation may not bring the desirable effects, a new management concept has appeared – the concept of corporate social responsibility. It is the result of changing requirements set for the companies by their environment, particularly changes of customer attitudes, as customers attach greater and greater importance to the issue of business ethics and more and more often make their choices on the basis of a specific internal system of values. This paper aims to investigate the nature, goals, and role of corporate social responsibility as a modern concept of business activity and define its importance for selected stakeholders. The paper discusses the examples of companies that use CSR to shape their positive image both inside and outside the company and presents the results of the authors’ own research on knowledge of the CSR concept by the main stakeholders, i.e. customers. It also pinpoints the advantages and disadvantages of implementation of CSR in management process