ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the conceptual nuances that exist when talking about corporate social responsibility (CSR). It introduces four approaches that are frequently used in practice to measure the social and ecological impact of organizational activities. The chapter focuses on the basis of their thematic focus, target group, level of detail, transparency, legal status, and addressee. It begins with defining the term CSR and delineates the concept from terms such as corporate citizenship, including corporate giving, corporate foundations, and corporate volunteering, as well as sustainability. The global reporting initiative guidelines provide reporting principles and standard disclosures for reporting, regardless of the size, industry, or location of the organization. The chapter compares the introduced models based on the following criteria: origin, thematic focus, target group, support for CSR attainment of objectives, type, comparability, level of detail, transparency, legal status, certification and addressee.
