Further reading
Corporate responsibility is the product of the development of social civilization and the symbol and responsibility of social civilization. It is the product of human civilization and the obligation that enterprises must undertake.
Enterprises fulfill their social responsibilities and realize the dynamic balance of economic responsibility, social responsibility and environmental responsibility. On the contrary, it will enhance the competitiveness and social responsibility of the enterprise, establish a good reputation and image for the enterprise, thereby enhancing the brand image of the enterprise, gaining the goodwill of all stakeholders, enhancing the confidence of investors, and easily attracting outstanding talents needed by the enterprise and retaining talents.
As early as the first industrial revolution in Britain in the middle and late18th century, the corporate responsibility forum industry in the modern sense has been fully developed, but the concept of corporate social responsibility has not yet appeared, and corporate social responsibility in practice is limited to the moral behavior of owners. The starting point of corporate social responsibility thought is Adam Smith's "invisible hand". Classical economic theory holds that a society can best determine its own needs through the market. If enterprises use resources as efficiently as possible, provide products and services needed by society and sell them at prices that consumers are willing to pay, they will fulfill their social responsibilities.
By the end of18th century, the concept of social responsibility of western enterprises began to change imperceptibly, which showed that small business owners often donated money to schools, churches and the poor.
After entering the19th century, the achievements of two industrial revolutions have brought about a leap in social productivity, and enterprises have developed to a great extent in quantity and scale. Influenced by "social Darwinism" in this period, people hold a negative attitude towards the concept of corporate social responsibility. Many enterprises do not take the initiative to assume social responsibility, but exploit suppliers and employees who are closely related to enterprises in order to become the strong players in social competition as soon as possible. With the vigorous development of industry, this concept has produced many negative effects.
At the same time, in the middle and late19th century, the enterprise system was gradually improved, and the demands of the working class to safeguard their own rights and interests were constantly rising. In addition, the American government has successively promulgated the Anti-Monopoly Law and the Consumer Protection Law to curb the bad behavior of enterprises, which objectively put forward new requirements for enterprises to fulfill their social responsibilities, and the emergence of the concept of corporate social responsibility has become a historical necessity.