The term corporate social responsibility refers to the responsibility of a business to provide a benefit to the society it affects. Corporate social responsibility incorporates dimensions of corporate responsibility and corporate policy that includes a company's policy to hire minority or disabled workers, or to take positions on social and political issues that benefit to the community. The social part of corporate social responsibility includes corporate charitable contributions and expands on this common practice of social business by invoking corporate social initiatives. For example, as a policy, Wal-Mart grocery store managers purchase as much produce and merchandise from local farmers and distributors as they can, instead of relying on national food distributors. This example of a corporate social initiative provides a greater benefit to the economy of the society surrounding Wal-Mart stores than if Wal-Mart only made charitable contributions to an area food bank. Environmental responsibility is a company's responsibility to reduce its carbon footprint and produce green products. The trend towards producing green products has come into force since global warming has become a major concern around the world over the past decade. Reducing the carbon footprint and manufacturing eco-friendly products can increase a company's costs, but the company can charge more for its products and services to offset the increased costs. Nickels, J. McHugh and S. McHugh give the example of Ciba Specialty Chemicals Company, a Swiss textile dye manufacturer that charges more for its dyes than other dye manufacturers because Ciba's dyes "require less salt than traditional dyes" and are therefore more expensive to produce (Nickels, J McHugh, S...... middle of paper ...... on financial return to survive. Companies must be accountable to the wider community of stakeholders for whom they are responsible, use a strong set of ethical codes and practice corporate social responsibility According to experts, “studies show that companies with good ethical reputations attract and retain better employees, attract more. customers and enjoy greater employee loyalty” (Nickels et al, 2010, p. 99). Since corporate social responsibility stems from a strong set of ethics, companies that practice corporate social responsibility will enjoy the same benefits. References Nickels, W., McHugh, J., McHugh, S., (2010) , Understanding business (9th ed.). .). McGraw-Hill-Irwin. Savitz, A., Weber, K., (2006), The Triple Bottom Line: How Today's Best-Run Companies Achieve Economic, Social, and Environmental Success - and How You Can Too achieve it. Jossey-Bass.