Creating and Capturing Value Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, Resource-Based Theory, and Sustainable Competitive Advantage

• Published in: Journal of management Vol. 37; no. 5; pp. 1480 - 1495
• Main Authors: McWilliams, Abagail, Siegel, Donald S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.09.2011; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Competitive advantage; Corporate social responsibility; Corporations; Economic models; Economics; Externalities; Hedonic pricing; Industrial organization; Management; Managers; Price models; Public services; Resource management; Resource-based theory; Social responsibility; Social responsibility of business; Social values; Strategic management; Studies; Valuation; Value; Value added; contingent valuation; strategic CSR; externalities; hedonic pricing; RBT; RBV
• ISSN: 0149-2063; 1557-1211
• DOI: 10.1177/0149206310385696

The authors analyze the creation and capture of private and social value by firms that adopt corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. Strategic CSR is defined as any “responsible” activity that allows a firm to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage, regardless of motive. To provide a roadmap for managers to accomplish this objective, the authors integrate the resource-based theory (RBT) framework with concepts and tools from economics, such as hedonic pricing, contingent valuation, and the new literature on the economics of industrial organization, where CSR is referred to as “the private provision of public goods.” By linking CSR, RBT, economic models of private provision of public goods, and pricing models, the authors demonstrate how RBT can provide a structure for determining the strategic value of CSR. They then discuss the conditions under which CSR can contribute to sustainable competitive advantage.