Global Proposal for a Business Classification According to Corporate Social Responsibility Practices

Abstract

<p>Despite the interest generated by the study of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the academic world, the concept has not been uniformly welcomed yet, generating a large number of definitions that have created confusion in its application. Using this reality as a starting point, this paper aims to contribute to the analysis, discussion and construction of epistemic-practical models in order to allow a better understanding of the concept of CSR and, more particularly, the CSR practices performed by companies under the watchful eye of the different interest groups in society. After an extensive literature review and application of the methods of analogy, analysis and synthesis, the study provides a new definition of CSR as a contribution to its own construction, followed by a universal proposal for the classification of companies according to their CSR practices.</p>