Ethics and corporate social responsibility: Are they two sides of the same coin?

Abstract

In the era of socially enlightened and knowledge empowered society, there is a greater emphasis on the businesses to be ethical as well as socially responsible. There is growing awareness that the resources businesses use, to create their fortunes are not free, so they must repay to the society by empowering the downtrodden and creating value-based structures. In India, though it is now made mandatory for certain set of companies to spend on social activities, companies highlight these activities to create a good public image and build brand value. In the light of recent cases of corporate governance failures. The study examined the ideas of corporate social responsibility and business ethics and established their connection. The stakeholder aspect of corporate social responsibility is the main focus of this study. And posits that corporate social responsibility as is practiced in India today is just to build goodwill. The paper infers that Indian corporates may be socially responsible to some extent but falls short on ethical standards.