An Integrative Framework for Evolving A Socially Responsible Marketing Strategy

Abstract

The rise in the strategic importance of maintaining positive stakeholder relationships and the need to protect corporate brand reputation has moved the academic and business debates of ethical issues concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR) from being viewed as paternalistic philanthropy to an integral part of business strategy (Raynard et al., 2002; Husted et al., 2000). Subsequently, the integration of CSR issues into business and marketing strategy transitioned from an option to a requirement for doing business. In this paper, the authors suggest a framework for organising the alternative approaches for the integration of CSR into corporate and marketing strategy to evolve socially responsible corporate identity, corporate image, and corporate branding. Towards this objective, we examine these alternative approaches, present a number of propositions to advance notions about the relationships between corporate strategy, marketing strategy, market orientation and stakeholder oriented CSR, and suggest a research agenda for evolving metrics to measure outcomes of alternatives for evolving a CSR oriented marketing strategy.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); CSR Integration; Corporate Strategy; Marketing Strategy; CSR-Oriented Image/Identity/Branding; Corporate Branding