A Critical Reflection on Corporate Social Responsibility: Between Communitarian Ethics and Business Purpose

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a topic of interest for many companies, especially medium and large ones, mainly based in the West. Despite the generally positive perception of the issue, the greatest risk that can be seen today concerning corporate social responsibility is that it becomes only a marketing activity whose purpose could improve the image and reputation of the company without having a real social and territorial impact. Furthermore, the habit of listed companies of externally communicating the achievement of certifications relating to sustainability and then imposing them on the supply chain, perhaps made up of micro and small businesses, risks making business only for consultancy companies and excluding those with fewer organizational and capital resources. These processes, planned above all in large multinational companies, forget the business realities of vast areas where human rights in the economic sphere are often compressed, not protected or nonexistent. This social responsibility is often based on the “how” to obtain certification quickly rather than on the “why” to orient the company toward certain sustainability strategies. Furthermore, the attention placed on hundreds of control indicators could generate excessive bureaucracy and a waste of energy instead of focusing management on the company’s real purpose, which is often put in the background. The concept of “how” concerns, in general, a pragmatic approach to the business world, deriving mainly from the Anglo-Saxon world and for which the achievement of objectives becomes fundamental. Top-down managerial systems are linked to a regulatory approach, apparently voluntarily, which, if poorly managed, risks excluding rather than including despite adherence to certifications and standards.