Balancing on the Triple Bottom Line: An Examination of Firm CSR Strategies

摘要

CSR research is a partial offshoot of the debate between stakeholder theory (Mitchell, Agle, & Wood, 1997) and shareholder primacy (Friedman, 1970; Husted & Salazar, 2006), but both sides of the debate regarding the purpose of the firm have become (or always were) somewhat normative. In the resource-based view, CSR activities are characterized as rare, valuable, and hard to imitate resources (Flammer, 2013) and as dynamic capabilities (Aragon-Correa, & Sharma, 2003). CSR activities may result from resource dependence relationships (Kassinis & Vafeas, 2006). While the theoretic underpinnings may differ, CSR activities share the common normative theme that CSR ought to be beneficial for firms, and social and environmental benefits should correspond with financial ones.