Businesses and Corporate Social Responsibility: Rethinking Philanthropy

Abstract

What comes to mind when, in the context of the business sector and its social responsibilities, we think about 'philanthropy'? Along the years, this term has passed to mean different things for different people. We all got accustomed to it, but while some businesses continue to embrace it as a legitimate basis for their social endeavors, others seek to distance themselves from it, and leave it behind. The term has been associated with different approaches and practices that at first sight appear to be incompatible. Or are they? Without intending to carry out an exhaustive analysis of all existing meanings of philanthropy, this article reviews many of them, and submits than they do not need to be necessarily incompatible. A conceptual framework is proposed that allow them to coexist comfortably under a common umbrella.