A comparison of Corporate Social Responsibility approaches in the EU and US as a benchmark for developing countries.

Trade liberalization and globalization are among some of the reasons why MultinationalCorporations (MNCs) have been spreading at an alarming rate round the globe. Interestingly enough, these corporations have been attracted to world-wide locations because they expect or are given best business environmental conditions e.g. with respect to labour laws and labour costs, taxation laws, pollution laws etc (cf. Kumar & Steinmann, 1998: pg 1). With such laxity in laws, these corporations are therefore out to make profits and satisfy their shareholders thereby neglecting other worthy aspects such as the social, environmental and ethical. Note that the traditional believe that corporations should behave as good “corporate citizens” has outstayed its validity. Therefore without some daunting pressures or some national and international laws, most corporations will always focus in satisfying only their shareholders and not taking responsibility of their negative actions on society due to their production or distribution activities. Corporations benefit tremendously from the society or public and therefore must have a moral conscience or be morally responsible for the negativerepercussions on the society. That is, corporations should not only abide to certain institutions or regulations put in place by the local governments or international standards, they should go beyond paying taxes and maximizing shareholders value by protecting the environment, the society and also carry out philanthropic gestures.Corporate social responsibility (CSR) emphasizes that the not just the economic aspect isimportant but also the social, environmental, legal, ethical and philanthropic aspects if anyhealthy and sustainable business operations. Though the Friedmanite theory (see pg 1) sees this as trivial, statistics have shown that increasingly, corporations have taken these social responsibilities with immense interest. A study carried in 2005 showed that 81% of executives view corporate social responsibility as essential to their businesses (Blowfield & Murray (2008): pg 10). However, it has not been a one model fit-all scenario cognizance of the todays conflicting views of CSR around the world due to different socio-economic, geopolitical etc situations.Despite the fact the most of CSR conceptualization and literature emanated from the US the EU has been observed to be ahead in its implementation. Developing countries-Africa in my case is still in the CSR developing stage but much more has to be done. For instance, inclusion of developing countries expert views in designing standards, educating the public and other stakeholders on the responsibilities these companies have to the society, EU and US. A comparison of CSR approaches in the EU and US as a benchmark for developing countries corporations taking the blame for indulging with irresponsible corporate partners and subsequently taking measures to prevent future lapses etc