International Corporate Responsibility Series

Volume 2, 2005

Perspectives On International Corporate Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility
An Information Strategy

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) continues to evolve as an important paradigm for business strategy. There is much disparate information about it available; evaluating that information and deciding what applies to any given organisation is thus becoming a more complicated task. With an idea to simplifying this process, the Sustainable Development Unit at the Royal Institute for International Affairs (RIIA) considered how it might position itself as an information filter for CSR generally. The research summarised here concludes that CSR is too large and vague a concept to be practical or applicable, and suggests that an international organisation such as RIIA should concentrate on creating opportunities for focusing the idea, rather than actually attempting to effect practical change. Whether these opportunities emerge out of discussion, analysis, research, policy briefings, or by other means, will depend on the nature and timing of any specific topic within the overall CSR context.