Corporate Performance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). A necessary choice?

The study aims to show how assuming corporate social responsibility should not be considered a cost to bear as an economic social actor but an investment that will contribute to the competitiveness and growth of the firm. The work is based on two models: - the first, by Mella (Mella, 1997 Ch. 2; 2002), provides the conceptual framework that brings together the functional, vital, instrumental and cognitive processes of the firm conceived of as a permanent organization that developed these processes in an environment that conditions or favours its long-term vitality; - the second, by Molteni (2004) – which has a similar framework as Mella (2004) – involves an exercise of System Thinking that presents a structural map of the system of variables that show how investments in CSR produce long-term positive economic performance. The synergy between social responsibility and economic efficiency is not automatic; rather it is the result of efforts that combine managerial professionalism and business creativity for the purpose of business growth that also takes into account the social groups. In this sense it is important to consider the conditions for the effectiveness of CSR actions in creating a positive feedback that can produce ever greater economic and social-environmental results.