Newsvine - How to Write a Corporate Social Responsibility Report by Laura Musikanski

This paper answers four questions: 1) how does one issue a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report? 2) how can one evaluate a CSR reports? 3) what are the legal implications of issuing a CSR report? and 4) why issue a CSR report?
This is the first paper to differentiate between guidelines and codes of conduct. Guidelines provide a form in which to issue a CSR report. Codes of conduct prescribe bases on which to make business decisions, the result of which are reported in a CSR report. With this paper in hand, a manager will be able to access tools for CSR reporting and make informed decisions about them.
This is also the first paper that provides a set of criteria for readers to evaluate CSR reports. This set of criteria also allows a manager to use a CSR report to measure performance and set goals. Part three of this paper provides a legal analysis. It begins with an explanation of the implications of the Nike v. Kasky case, explains some of the potential legal liabilities connected to CSR reporting. It also lays out the landscape of the laws available for protecting a business from these liabilities. The last part of the paper states the business case for CSR. It takes the perspective that practicing CSR must enhance profitability if a business is going to engage CSR into its operational decisions.