(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
CSR and PR
CSR has been discussed and debated over from the discipline of business. It is labeled under
business leaders’ and business school’s agendas (Tench, 2010). The recent paradigm shift has
diversified CSR into a comprehensive multi-disciplinary analysis and debate about this subject in
the context of communications. As in a book titled The Debate over Corporate Social
Responsibility (May, Cheney and Roper, 2010), it covers history, legal issues, economic
perspectives and attempts to integrate alternative social and cultural perspectives for the subject
(Tench, 2010). It is stated that “typical approaches to CSR include developing codes of ethics,
preparing triple bottom line reports and launching public relations campaigns that highlight a
given socially responsible act” (Vyakarnam, 1992; Weaver et al, 1999; cited in Galbreath, 2009).
Somehow the role of PR in communication campaigns has been labeled as a non-strategic
corporate window dressing exercise (Weaver et al., 1999).
In view of such limited approaches of CSR strategy, Galbreath (2009) has proposed
six dimensions in CSR. The dimensions are namely firm mission, strategic issues, markets,
customer needs, resources and competitive advantages.
CSR on the other hand, has been labeled as an invention of PR (Frankental, 2001)
unless otherwise few paradoxes being addressed. There is a lack of clear definitions of CSR
from the angle of its understood definition; benchmarks to measure the attainment of CSR;
established processes in place to achieve these benchmarks; a system of internal auditing;
likewise the three bottom lines of financial, environment and social; and, a system of external
verification by accredited bodies.
Starck and Kruckeberg (2003) have drawn a drastic change of view regarding the
relationship between CSR and PR. They argued that “corporations out of their own self-interest
must embrace a global approach in fulfilling their social responsibility and that public relations
professional have an obligation to carry out that responsibility in their practices that the most
important ‘corporate’ stakeholder is society itself”.
CSR, PR and Marketing
There is not yet such a definition that relates CSR, PR and marketing. Semenik (2001) somehow
has proposed a flow of relationship between marketing plan, IMC (integrated marketing
communication) management and PR as a tool of marketing. The flow of relationship is shown
in the flow chart as below:
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