“Strategy & Society: The Link between Competitive Advantage 

This paper focuses on “Strategy & Society: The Link between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility”.  Read Porter and Kramer’s assigned article for this week “Strategy & Society:

Strategy & Society: The Link between Competitive Advantage

Read Porter and Kramer’s assigned article for this week “Strategy & Society: The Link between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility” and address the following questions: Provide key points of the article that show the link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. Provide at least three examples of companies that pursue sustainability strategies and explain what their activities entail.

More details;

Introduction

The article “Strategy & Society: The Link between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility” by Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer sets out to demonstrate the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in today’s business environment. The authors are accredited experts in the field of CSR. Therefore better placed to shed some light on how business entities can improve the social and environmental consequences of their activities.

Throughout the paper, the authors highlight the successes that CSR concepts have had in making businesses socially and environmentally friendly. They also discuss the common misconceptions held by businesses in regard to the application. Also, impact of CSR to business practices. This paper shall discuss some of the arguments forwarded by the authors in regard to the general understanding of CSR, its importance in strategy formulation, and demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of the authors’ points.

Article Review

The authors begin by stating that while CSR is currently an inescapable priority to businesses due to pressure from the government, media and activists, the efforts by businesses to account for the environmental and social consequences of their activities have not reached their maximum potential. From this observation, the authors theorize that strategic CSR is characterized by the acknowledgement of the interdependence between the company and the society (Porter & Kramer, 2006).