Modeling the Corporate Social Responsibility

This paper has been presented at the Operational Research Society of India (ORSI) Conference at Tirupati from 15 to 17 December, 2008 and communicated for publication to the International Journal of Operational Research.

Abstract: The role of business in society and the perception that the society holds for it has undergone distinct changes throughout history. Eberstad’s (1977) study of ancient Greece to modern times asserts that today’s corporate responsibility movement is an attempt to restore a 2000 year old tradition of business being connected to the community. Overtime, awareness and concerns of the impact of business and its interplay with social and environmental issues have emerged, along with parallel growth of socio-regulatory pressures. This evolution of business and societal concerns has gradually led to acceptance of social orientation with greater concern. The corporate response to environmental and social issues, commonly known as Corporate responsibility (CR) or Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is progressing to three stages: Profit maximization, trusteeship management, and quality of life management (Panwar et al. (2006)). A single organization cannot address all the societal problems, but core competency could be utilized in addressing the needs of the society. At this point, there is a need to achieve a trade off between the benefits received by society and the cost incurred on CSR, enabling the planners to make a decision in an appropriate manner. This paper tries to address this issue using the application of linear programming, goal programming, and AHP. The same is applied to study a CSR initiative in Sijua, Jharkhand.

1)  August, 2008 onwards:  Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART).

Postings:-

• SGSY Division, Secretariat, Govt. of Rajasthan, Jaipur North Zone Regional Committee, CAPART, Jaipur
• CAPART headquarters, New Delhi (Media & Publications Division)

2) Consultant, Tata Steel Rural Development     Society (TSRDS)  

Responsible for implementing the programs of TSRDS which included livelihood enhancement programs (agriculture and allied activities), health and hygiene, Empowerment (SHGs, Community Organisation) for Corporate Social Responsibility of Tata Steel.

• India