Discuss the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in today’s world. Give practical examples for your arguments. (It will be much better if the examples are taken from the Australian company) .

The role of Corporate Social Responsibility in today’s world
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR henceforth), or rather the responsibility owed by the organizations to the society in which they thrive, has been under great debate from early times. But recently, due to the general awakening of the environment, more focus has been placed on CSR ever since. Defining CSR thus falls into the lines of 2 sets of arguments, one which states that businesses are only meant to make profit and have little or no obligations towards the well-being of the society and the others who counter with the argument of ethical responsibilities towards the environment and others (Schwartz, 2003). During the course of this essay, we will discuss the role and importance of CSR in the corporate world of today, success stories of companies and how CSR can be used an instrument of promotions and success for smart companies with an ethical balance.
The world has grown into an integrated community over the past few decades and with integration has come responsibilities. As the global population is increasing, so is terror, poverty, malnutrition and other societal problems. Being the responsible members of the society with the ability to spend, corporates are the best options we have for the upliftment of the society, be it by money or by other means. This is why, by the 1950s, the concept of CSR had already come into picture with the focus primarily on how the corporates were helping out the society out of their free will (Moura-Leite, 2011). By the next decade, key people had become instrumental in planning these social changes and by 1990s, the concept of CSR has almost become approved universally. Apart from the fact that CSR is partially, if not solely responsible for the well-being of the current environment we live in, there is no doubt in the fact that there is a lot of hidden benefit for the companies implementing these as well. This is why it can undoubtedly be states that the role of CSR in today’s world is a cumulative of improving the culture and working for the people, by claiming a mental position for oneself in the hearts of the people being benefitted, and the people seeing the benefit. We will first discuss the benefits the companies are gaining by their CSR activities and then we will explain y giving real life examples from companies.
While discussing about the role of CSR in today’s world, we will be seeing both the societal aspect and the company aspect. While discussing the company aspect, we will divide our study into 3 categories, the economic, the social and the environmental aspect (Sharma, 2013). The social and environmental aspect will dually cover their impact counterparts as well. Starting with the economic aspect, let’s understand how CSR is perceived inside the company. Although, the economic aspect may imply the monetary aspect of the company, it actually means the impact on all the people associated to the company, be it the suppliers, stakeholders, employees and the customers. Since CSR involves additional spending, it does have an impact on the profit and payback for the stakeholders. But a good performance enables the company to make a strong base by spending on public welfare and NGOs, thus increasing a company’s intrinsic value, and pleasing the stakeholders. Mostly, priority is given to the trust and transparency maintained by the company for all the people associated to them. One very important aspect of stakeholders are the customers of the company. In actively supporting CSR activities, and being transparent about these plans, the company provides emotional and functional values for the customers (Green, 2011). This value created, in turn acts as retention tactics for customers, for the companies. Thus, CSR, in a way is actually helping the corporate to grow, which is why companies are using them as a means of social marketing. We will come to this later on with further discussions.
Now, coming to the social and environmental aspects, we will discuss each separately. Environmental impacts of CSR are actually intertwined in a way that they benefit both, the doer and the recipient....