Companies can do well by doing good

In A Review of the Non-market Strategy Literature: Toward a Multi-Theoretical Integration published in the Journal of Management, academics emphasise that corporate social responsibility has become a strategic part of most businesses and is used by companies to advance some social good and also allows them to enhance their organisational performance. Most organisations are integrating social and environmental issues into their core strategies. But can organisations do well while doing good? To answer this, academics reviewed 163 research papers from top-tier journals published from 2000 to 2014 on the link between CSR and company performance. The study identified factors that moderate the impact of CSR on performance. First, in order for CSR to pay-off, the organisation must be able to adapt and align its CSR activities with the concerns of key stakeholders. Second, communicating a company's CSR activity is another important factor. The third factor is that the CSR must be consistent with what the organisation does, it needs to be committed to CSR.