ABSTRACT
A distinctive mark of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is that it must be voluntary. If responsibility is demanded by the law, it ceases to be corporate responsibility and is not part of the specific identity of an organization. The values in organizations are normally soft values as opposed to hard values such as money, power and law. If values are inherent in any decision, talking about 'value based management' seems superfluous, as management is only possible based on values. The CSR is no panacea against the evils of capitalism. On the contrary, it is yet another organizational tool for adapting to the demands of the market place. Therefore, the conclusion must be that, using CSR strategies, organizations try to combine economic and political values by playing hide and seek in the dark. The existence of a value may be considered: normatively binding; empirically relevant as a means to obtain other values; or irrelevant or even harmful.
