Rapid technological development during the XXth century and consequent aggravation of environmental issues has raised many concerns about the future of the planet among people all over the world. As a response to that threat, the governments implement numerous regulations that are intended to protect and preserve nature. Moreover, private companies such as Walt Disney, Lego, and Google also seek to introduce initiatives that are oriented towards environmental safety and are best known under the term corporate social responsibility (CSR).
In this regard, the question concerning the importance of business participation in nature responsible behavior necessitates further discussion. Some argue that businesses should participate in the battle against environmental problems, while others state that this is solely the governments’ responsibility. In my opinion, companies should have corporate social responsibility (CSR) plans which seek to address environmental issues. Therefore, this paper presents two arguments in support of this view.
The first reason why companies should implement CSR strategies is based on the notion that businesses are part of society and thus should seek to protect and increase its well-being. Companies are directly interested in the prosperity of the local community and surrounding nature as the former, and the latter are valuable resources that ensure the company’s future development and existence. In this respect, the degradation of the environment may, firstly, negatively affect people’s health conditions and, thus, decrease their productivity and, secondly, reduce the availability of natural resources which are used for production. Therefore, businesses should practice CSR in order to ensure their own future prosperity.
Secondly, if the organizations do not collaborate with the government in the questions of environment protection willingly, the latter may introduce regulations that would force companies to cooperate. In this regard, by implementing mild CSR strategies, the businesses, to some extent, protect themselves from legislative measures that potentially would be more burdensome. The latter, in turn, can negatively affect the development of the companies as all of them would be forced to adopt similar measures regardless of their strengths and weaknesses. Contrary, practicing CSR would ensure that businesses help the environment in the best manner based on their specific advantages. For this reason, it can be concluded that implementing a CSR strategy is mutually beneficial for both companies and governments.