10 Quotes on the Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility

Take a look at these reflections on what Responsible Business means. It is clear that it is important for companies to take a stand and support initiatives that help protect people, communities, and the environment.

"Corporate social responsibility is measured in terms of businesses improving conditions for their employees, shareholders, communities, and environment. But moral responsibility goes further, reflecting the need for corporations to address fundamental ethical issues such as inclusion, dignity, and equality." - Klaus Schwab

"It is not possible to have a strong, functioning business in a world of increasing inequality, poverty, and climate change." - Paul Polman

"When you run a company, you want to hand it off in better shape than you found it. In the same way, just as we shouldn't leave our children or grandchildren with mountains of national debt and unsustainable entitlement programs, we shouldn't leave them with the economic and environmental costs of climate change." - Henry Paulson

"Business is one of the most powerful institutions on Earth for creating wealth and opportunity and helping to lift people out of poverty. When you think about it that way, then the business is not separate from development policy." - Peter Blair Henry

"Companies should not have a singular view of profitability. There needs to be a balance between commerce and social responsibility... The companies that are authentic about it will wind up as the companies that make more money." - Howard Schultz

"Business is a very beautiful mechanism to solve problems, but we never use it for that purpose. We only use it to make money. It satisfies our selfish interest but not our collective interest." - Muhammad Yunus

"It took a generation for companies to recognize their responsibilities in terms of labor practices and another generation for them to recognize their environmental obligations." - Rebecca MacKinnon

"Brands are facing a new competitive landscape in which self-definition, core values, and purpose will increasingly define their ability to reach customers that only allow what is meaningful in their lives to pass through their filter." - Simon Mainwaring

"An organization's culture of purpose answers the critical questions of who it is and why it exists. They have a culture of a purpose beyond making a profit." - Punit Renjen

"If a brand genuinely wants to make a social contribution, it should start with who they are, not what they do. For only when a brand has defined itself and its core values can it identify causes or social responsibility initiatives that are in alignment with its authentic brand story." - Simon Mainwaring