Corporate Social Responsibility: Developments, Challenges and Perspectives
Corporate social responsibility has long entered the corporate law making arena. Enhanced CSR is commonly seen as a proxy for sustainable investments, pension safety and crisis prevention. The mechanisms that have traditionally served to implement diverse CSR goals differ from country to country. They may include forms of worker co-determination. Recently the EU introduced a new for of sustainability reporting. Reporting duties can serve as pacemaker for CSR convergence. Empirical research is still struggling with identifying socially desirable behavior as an explaining variable of corporate success. Future rule making should be based on a sound understanding of the factors which enhance good corporate conduct. Pivotal aspects concern the role of self-regulation, the binding force of self-commitments and the role of information intermediaries in capital markets.