23.2 Current concepts and trends

The driving forces

Over recent decades, the concept and practice of corporate social responsibility or citizenship have been influenced by a series of related developments, which have brought the issue to the forefront.

Government retrenchment. An extremely important driver of the current concept of corporate citizenship is government retrenchment. The fall of the communist and command-economy systems was followed by a commercial explosion, and new policies such as reduced tariffs within and between nations, putting a strain on the public purse. At the same time, mature democracies around the world face a situation in which more and more public funds are tied to non-discretionary (mandatory) support programmes (health, unemployment, etc.) leaving fewer resources to address increasingly complex social problems in education, social exclusion, digital divide, and safety. As businesses thrive, they are increasingly expected to engage in solving societal problems, and to focus their considerable resources on filling the gaps left by government retrenchment. Countries with no tradition of corporate philanthropy or volunteerism are thus beginning to embrace such concepts.

Globalization and the economic power of business. Improved technology (such as global telecommunications and inexpensive transport), opening of national economies, dynamic global capital markets, and access to low-cost labour are among the factors creating truly global enterprises. Transnational