The Concept of Business Legitimacy: Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Citizenship, Corporate Governance as Essential Elements of Ethical Business Legitimacy

This chapter discusses corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, and corporate citizenship in relation to business legitimacy as a basic concept in the philosophy of management. Corporations must take into the consideration of legitimacy to be able to exist and prosper in a society: legitimacy is a precondition of business license to operate in society, and of the supply of necessary resources - ranging from investments, committed employees, business partners, and sales/consumption, to political support and support from an increasing range of diverse stakeholders.