Here is an interesting take that I’ve not seen so bluntly stated before: CSR can be a bad thing for companies to focus on.  I’m a firm believe in the idea that there aren’t any “bad ideas” and then being exposed to more viewpoints is nearly always a good thing, so I offer you this Wall Street Journal piece as food for thought.  It appeared in a special section on Monday (the Journal often runs special sections on Mondays in place of Personal Journal, which runs the rest of the week).

The basis for this argument isn’t as crazy as it first sounds…in fact, the author seems to be echoing some of the thoughts I’ve posted before that companies that pursue profits end up being socially responsible.  Or vice versa.  In the end it might be the pursuit of financial goals that is the means to the end.

In the end, social responsibility is a financial calculation for executives, just like any other aspect of their business. The only sure way to influence corporate decision making is to impose an unacceptable cost—regulatory mandates, taxes, punitive fines, public embarrassment—on socially unacceptable behavior.

Pleas for corporate social responsibility will be truly embraced only by those executives who are smart enough to see that doing the right thing is a byproduct of their pursuit of profit. And that renders such pleas pointless.

WSJ Executive Adviser (A Special Report): The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility: The idea that companies have a duty to address social ills is not just flawed, argues Aneel Karnani; It also makes it more likely that we’ll ignore the real solutions to these problems. Aneel Karnani. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Aug 23, 2010. pg. R.1