The importance of CSR capital for sustainable strategic corporate finance

Abstract

Modern business-speak in many languages is these days replete with phrases borrowed from English containing the word corporate. Even if we're not always sure exactly what they mean, terms such as corporate identity, corporate governance and corporate finance have entered normal business parlance. They have rapidly been followed by corporate responsibility, corporate education, corporate integrity, corporate citizenship, corporate credibility, corporate branding, corporate education, corporate success, corporate strategy, and so on. The list could go on indefinitely. All these buzzwords relate closely to the discussion that has flared up surrounding corporate goals - or, to be more precise, the goals of corporate entrepreneurs. An unhealthy fixation on shareholder value as the sole measure of corporate performance has intensified the conflict between shareholders and other stakeholders. A fundamental debate is raging - and not for the first time - over what entrepreneurial goals companies could and should set themselves. This discussion is far from over. It is already clear, however, that entrepreneurs must shoulder greater responsibility. Society evidently wants top managers to assume responsibility toward the economy as a whole, society and the environment. The corporate egocentrism that has apparently prevailed hitherto is thus giving way to a kind of universal responsibility toward everyone and everything that is deemed to be in need of protection. This trend is redefining the concept of corporate value in a way that, as things stand, we can only guess at. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.