Competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explain the concepts and theories involving corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and how these theories can be put into practice in business organizations. The related theories and concepts used in this study include the stakeholder Theory, Legitimacy Theory, concept of Business Ethics, and the concept of corporate Citizenship. In addition, the study examines how the integration of CSR concepts with the Competitive Strategy theory can be used in organizations. In particularly, two significant theories of competitive advantage namely the Resources Based Theory and the Market Based Theory are applied along with the theories of CSR to assess how businesses gain competitive advantage in a long run.