Business is part of other systems, including the social, political, and economic systems. CSR is also part of these systems in its own right. By thinking of CSR and business as part of these systems, we are better able to understand how the "Social" in CSR is important in social, political, and economic contexts. This helps us build a picture of CSR that is much closer to the Real World than the limited views normally taken. Only with such a comprehensive understanding of CSR can we possibly see how large-scale business can ever be truly socially responsible.
About the author
Peter Challis is the director of his own company, Time 4 Social Change. After a career in accountancy, he moved into strategic systems management first as a senior civil servant and then into local government. His mastersí degree in strategic management included a research paper on shared services in the public sector and he worked as an adviser to the Cabinet Office on the subject. After taking voluntary redundancy, he worked as a volunteer on one of the governmentís Big Society vanguard projects. He then helped several charities respond to austerity and Big Society and was a director of some of them. By becoming a reader in Northampton University library and then in Bodleian library at Oxford University, Peter taught himself the sociology of business. From his experience as a strategic manager, his knowledge of sociology and its application to management, Peter began writing for Bookboon. In his spare time, Peter writes science fiction novels and helps look after his disabled daughter.