Corporate Social Responsibility from Friedman to Porter and Kramer

Abstract

We analyze, from the viewpoint of value creation, the evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) thought from Friedman critical view of CSR to Porter and Kramer " shared-value " proposition, emphasizing, at the same time, its par-allelism with the evolution of asset valuation models from the viewpoint of common stocks value. On this basis, we show how CSR has adapted to value creation, the corporate goal that has substituted the old goal of profit maximization. A review of the studies about the impact of CSR on corporate financial performance complements this analysis.