Integrated CSR Communications

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has developed over the years from being a mere social idea to becoming a corporate concept and philosophy. In recent years, it has gained a remarkable amount of attention from top management as a strategic concept that is designed to promote the competitive competence of a corporation by espousing the principle of social legitimacy. A company’s public commitment to cooperate with a socially accepted ethical code improves its reputation and brand image, enhances its relationships with stakeholders and with the public, and thereby helps it to achieve better long-term performance. To fully exploit its strategic potential, CSR requires—more than any other strategic program or initiative—a credible and consistent communications management system. Although Integrated CSR Communications risks being seen as a vehicle for window-dressing or green-washing owing to the increasing information and options that internal and external stakeholders have access to, it is, nevertheless, an underestimated strategic tool. This article reflects on different perspectives in managing Integrated CSR Communications at different organizational levels. On the basis of an Integrated Communications concept, it discusses how companies can plan CSR Communications as a strategic communications approach, as well as how they can implement it as a more content-based approach, by targeting specific departments or using specialist CSR teams.