CSR in Developing Countries: Competing Perspectives on Businesses, their Roles, and Responsibilities

Clarifying the contribution of three perspectives (the business perspective, the development perspective, and the critical political economy perspective) will enhance the understanding of the complexity of the debate on corporate social responsibility (CSR)-development relations. We provide an overview of the three distinct perspectives, based on the theoretical assumptions put forward about CSR-development relations in each perspective. As there is not a simple understanding of the CSR-development relations, it is a matter of which theoretical, disciplinary perspective one puts on CSR, development, and their interrelations. Though various perspectives on CSR-development relationship have been developed, these perspectives have yet to be well explained and compared.