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Nisberg (1988; 43 cited by Kilcullen and Kooistra, 1999; 158) gives an important definition of business ethics, which according to the author “can be defined as a set of principles that guides business practices to reflect a concern for society as a whole while pursuing profits”. However, with the relentless pursuit of profit in this actual globalized situation, how to maximise profit and act as an ethical company at the same time?

A good understanding of what exactly is the term Corporate Social Responsibility is essential in order to answer and explain this question through different perspectives and theories.

2.3 history and Definitions of Corporate Social Responsibility

The history of Corporate Social Responsibility can be compared as being as old as the history of business; however, its concept has not been fully formulated until now (Asongu, 2007; 28; Crane et al, 2008).

May et al (2007; 4) also adds “Questions regarding the nature, scope and impact of organizations have been present into various forms for centuries ranging across the ‘classical’, ‘medieval’, ‘mercantile’, ‘industrial’ and ‘corporate eras’”.

Taking into consideration only the period after the Industrial Revolution, or better saying the 20th century, the first author who directly contributed to the responsibility issue was Clark (1916; 210 cited by Secchi, 2007; 351) when he affirmed that “The old idea of free will is giving way to determinism, individualism to public control, personal responsibility to social responsibility.”

During the period of 1930s and 1940s, called as the ‘corporate period’ references about social responsibility can be found, for example: Chester Barnard’s, ‘The functions of the Executive’ (1938) and Theodore Kreps’s ‘Measurement of the social performance of business’ (1940). (Crane et al, 2008).

Murphy (cited by Crane et al, 2008), on the other hand classified Corporate Social Responsibility in four eras as follows: Philanthropic era (up to 1950s), awareness era (1953 to 1967), issue era (1968 to 1973) and awareness era (1974 until now).

According to Secchi (2007; 348), however, “One of the first attempts at classifying theories on CSR (business and society issues) was made by Preston (1975).”

This shows that the concept of CSR has been discussed for long but in fact, has not yet been fully understood and placed among organizations.

Recently, empirical research about Corporate Social Responsibility and its relation to Corporate Social Performance and Sustainability provokes many contradictions in the literature. Due especially to the occurrence of different scandals among enterprises as well as the movement towards an environmentalist society rather than materialist, competitive labour market and shrinking role of government, there were a rise of interest in Corporate Social Responsibility in the past decades (Carrasco and Yakovleva, 2007; 15-16).

Many authors affirm that business and society are interrelated entities rather than being distinctively separated (Kotler, 2005; Wood, 1991 cited by Moir, 2001).