There is more and more interest in ethics in business. It is an important subject and well worthy of the attention it gets. There are any number of unethical practises that impact poorly on the community and ultimately the perpetrators. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is seen by many as an important component of ethical business […]

There is more and more interest in ethics in business. It is an important subject and well worthy of the attention it gets. There are any number of unethical practises that impact poorly on the community and ultimately the perpetrators. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is seen by many as an important component of ethical business practise. For some businesses it is an important component of ethical business practise. With this in mind many businesses invest heavily in CSR. Indeed research suggests growing investment in this CSR by businesses of all shapes and sizes. This is perhaps why so many senior business people ask me if CSR is a sound investment and if so how much should they invest. Unfortunately my answer is all too often – NO. Having said that, before we can determine the value of CSR we must answer two critical questions: • What return are you looking…