ABSTRACT
Bowd (2005) suggests that a healthy business requires a healthy community and that CSR is generally held to increase profit or improve reputation. The benefits of operating in an ethical manner can include goodwill, customer and staff loyalty and strong stakeholder relationships which can result in a competitive edge. After suffering from a consumer backlash due to publicity about working conditions in factories in the developing world, Gap Inc. (2006 Annual CSR report, mentioned in Bowd 2005) reported that it had revoked approval for seventy supplier factories in violation of their code of vendor contract.
