Corporate Social Responsibility – Management Decision or Mandatory?

Agility PR/Bulldog Reporter just posted a study from Cone Communications that found that an astoundingly  high seven in 10 Americans believe companies have an obligation to take actions to improve issues—even ones that may not even be relevant to everyday business operations.
The study also showed that people’s definition of what being a “good company” means today has evolved now to include:

• Being a good employer (94 percent)
• Operating in a way that protects and benefits society and the environment (90 percent)
• Creating products and services that ensure individual wellbeing (89 percent)
• Investing in causes in local communities and around the globe (87 percent)
• Standing up for important social justice issues (78 percent)

HMA is proud to work with many of its clients on corporate social responsibility programs, though none are mandatory in nature or deemed as obligations from the executive leadership to the rest of the team.
So, what say you? Is corporate social responsibility a company’s obligation? Or should it be more authentic in nature, even organic based on the brand and its people?