Corporate Social Responsibility as a Tool for Poverty Alleviation

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to argue that there is tremendous potential through CSR (corporate social responsibility) to improve the relations between the private and public spheres of society. It is from the actions of the private sector that achievements in poverty alleviation can be reached and this work will argue for that position. In fact, that position is a midpoint between the arguments of purely business-minded individuals such as M. Friedman and purely philosophically minded scholars like T. Pogge. The former argues that business ought to only respond to the interest of stockholders because that's what they exist for and what they have expertise on. The later, contends that we cannot expect corporate behavior to be such that it will contribute to poverty alleviation. He argues that modifying global institutions is the key to poverty alleviation. This paper will furthermore attempt to show that improvements in this area do not have to necessarily arise out of a significant economic burden for corporations, thus leading to win-win situations. In fact, "in the last decade there has been a growing body of evidence that pioneering companies that actively manage their impacts on sustainable development have better financial performance.”