conclusion

Therefore a businessman has responsibilities not only to the society, but also to those that the
businessman is dealing with. The discretionary responsibilities of today may become the ethical
responsibilities of tomorrow. Prof. Carroll has suggested that, if the business fails towards
social responsibilities, then the society will bring them under legal framework. Before that
happens, it is advisable that companies undertake ethical and discretionary activities voluntarily.

Research studies have shown that ethical or socially responsible investing (SRI) is of particular
importance to professionals. With the recent financial crisis and increasing public awareness
about environmental issues, corporate governance and business sustainability, a growing number
of investors are looking more closely at companies that are seen as 'ethical' or socially
responsible. These investors are placing an increasing emphasis on the importance of the
environmental, social and economic consequences of their investments, and want to know what
their money is doing and that their personal values reflected in their investment portfolios.
Consumer and business demands have no doubt placed pressure on companies to operate in an
environmentally and socially acceptable way – all while being economically viable. Not only do
corporations increasingly want to be ‘seen’ as socially responsible, they also need to
comply with a growing number of environmental organizations and regulatory authorities.
Companies are now valuing social responsibility together with their bottom line. Therefore, it is
mandatory for all business firms to follows Business Ethics, which will result in its own welfare.
Various councils, Federations and Chamber of Commerce have formulated code of Ethics
applicable to business firms. They can be summed up as to sell unadulterated goods to the
consumers, to use proper weights and measures, to charge reasonable or fair prices, to make only
reasonable profit, to ensure regular supply of goods, to give fair treatment to workers or
employees and to maintain proper and correct books of account and any taxes payable to
government regularly and promptly.

As Carroll has propounded earlier the four categories of CSR – economic, legal, ethical and
philanthropic – address the motivations for conducting CSR activities and are also useful in
identifying the benefits that flow back to business and society for their fulfillment. The four main
motivational aspect of CSR for Indian companies are reduction in cost and risk management, to
gain competitive advantage of the firm, to build reputation and legitimacy for the company that
is the license to operate and to most
importantly ‘give something back to the community’. Most of the widely accepted approaches to
the business case include identifying benefits to different stakeholder groups that directly or
indirectly benefit the companies’ bottom line. It is still debated world wide whether
'corporations have social responsibilities beyond their wealth-generating function' (Friedman,
1962; Henderson, 2001), or should they succumb to the
'increasing internal and external pressures on business organizations to
fulfill broader social goals' (Davies, 2003; Freeman, Pica, & Camponovo,
2001).
 conclusion
There are different ways through which a firm can exert positive social change in society
and collaborate with partners who have the explicit power to trigger such change. Firms
should have in-depth understanding of the circumstances that lead to the pursue of
various CSR activities and implement those activities that demonstrate a convergence
between the firm’s economic objectives and the social objectives of society. Only when
firms are able to embed strategic CSR activities with the whole hearted support of their
stakeholders there will be a market for virtue and a business case for CSR in Indian
companies.

The people centric approach in CSR makes the CSR practices of Indian companies
unique, while India shares with other developing nations in its CSR experiences and
practices certain attributes that come with the process of development, such as a
distinct set of CSR agenda challenges and the deployment of CSR as an alternative to
the government. (Mattenand Moon 2008; Blowfield and Frynas 2005). Such an
approach has led the Indian companies to respond to specific challenges such as lack
of skilled labour and increased pressure to go green in a unique way. Indiancompanies
have a strong focus on people and community which includes promoting work force
diversity, fostering inclusive growth and training and development. Indian CSR initiatives
are also deep rooted in religion and spirituality and one of the over arching belief is that
it is inappropriate to talk about the good things that they are doing echoing the thoughts
of India’s foremost industrialist, Mr. Ratan Tata who says that, “We do not do
it for propaganda. We do not do it for publicity. We do it for the satisfaction of having
achieved something worthwhile”. The benefits of implementing CSR strategies are
largely difficult to quantify.

Corporate Social responsibility is strategic when it yields business related benefits to the
firm. This study has focused on the stakeholder approach to the business approach by
linking CSR and firm performance. The first objective of the firm was to examine the
relationship between CSR and financial and non-financial performance of listed
companies in India. The study found that CSR activities have a positive impact on a
firm’s financial and non-financial performance of firms and it is in the best business
interests of the company to undertake CSR activities. While the correlation was
significant for the CSR activities related to employee, community and customers and
suppliers, it was not statistically significant in case of Environment CSR.

The proof of the business case for CSR has been reiterated in the study The financial
benefits outweigh the costs- in the long run at least- to ensure that CSR engagement is
financially sustainable. The Companies with a reputation for investing in and developing
communities are at a competitive advantage, as they are able to achieve capacity
additions and expansions at a faster pace

Companies have shown a tendency to concentrate on certain areas of community