The European Commission has previously defined Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as "a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns into their business activities and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis".
SERVITOURS believes, as many authors do, that CSR will become a key aspect in a company life and development, especially in the tourism industry. Following COVID-19, wellness and mental health of workers and clients will become predominant. As we also know, questions about environment protection are becoming more central for our governments and societies. These topics are two of the main points that CSR aims to tackle. The question many now ask is how to develop efficient CSR measures and what will be the impact of those measures on company economic, financial and social performances.
This first quote provides a brief answer to this question:
“The results of this research show a favorable and positive effect of social performance on financial performance. In any case, adopting responsible behavior does not imply a lower profit. Managers are called upon to become more involved in the social aspect since this investment brings profitability for the company and contributes to social well-being.”[1]
Even though there appears to be some consensus about the idea developed in the preceding quote, some authors are raising doubts about the justification for CSR measures. This will inevitably affect the question of performance:
“The theories of CSR fall between two opposing visions of the company” (M. Capron and F. Quairel- Lanoizelée 2010): a purely utilitarian liberal vision in which CSR only makes sense if it increases the profit of the shareholders and, on the contrary, that of an ethical current considering that the company has the duty to act in a socially responsible manner. Between these two extreme positions, the justifications for the merits of CSR have given rise to much debate and research and have led to the fragmentation of theoretical approaches which are, however, for the most part based on stakeholder theory” [2]
Some authors raise questions about the efficiency of CSR measures and their credibility:
· “One of the risks that has been underlined on several occasions in the managerial literature is that of the lack of credibility of CSR approaches (Allouche et al., 2004) which have remained anchored in corporate logics that are too conciliatory with regard to ''a classic management method (Visser, 2015)”. [3]
All things considered, we at SERVITOURS believe that there appear to be positive impacts of CSR measures on performance and that the debate is at a turning point. Indeed, the doubts expressed in the second and third quotes will inevitably reveal themselves as being negligible.
Nevertheless, there are still topics that could be addressed concerning the credibility of CSR actions.
As stated in the second quote, visions justifying implementation of CSR measures may differ, especially regarding company size. A hotly debated topic concerns the motivation for large multinational corporations to implement CSR measures.
Are they taking these measures to become more credible in the eyes of the public and to ease pressure exercised by institutions such as the EU or because these decisions are animated by a true desire to help re-think and re-build our approaches towards environmental and societal issues?
SERVITOURS hopes that these quotes and this article help you understand a little more about debates surrounding CSR and company performance.
If you have any remarks regarding these quotes or would like to share your opinions with others, please do not hesitate to post a comment on this LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity- 6829429117457375233-xFFU
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[1] Njaya, J. (2014). The impact of social responsibility (CSR) on the financial performance of companies (PFE) in Cameroon. Revue Congolaise de Gestion, 1 (1), 89-112.
[2] Ory, J. & Petitjean, J. (2014). CSR and financial performance: an approach through corporate communication. La Revue des Sciences de Gestion, 3 (3-4), 69-78.
[3] Moez Ben Yedder and Imen Zrelli," The ecological and social aims of corporate social responsibility in the tourism sector. Opposition or convergence? », Téoros [Online], 1 | 39, Online since 07 February 2020