CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND REPUTATION

Based on stakeholders' theory, this paper aims to confront the academic definitions of Corporate Social Responsibility with the benefits of its practices by bringing forward a very important element: corporate reputation. A company's commitments in favor of the socially responsible behavior can be in the some time the basis of a competitive differentiation strategy and the support for a communication policy towards social stakeholders. Responsible practices bring benefits to the companies: financial performance, risk forecasting, competitive advantage, image, brand and reputation. Once created, reputation has to be maintained. Reputation is the result of the deep value-based attitude. Not all sectors benefit from the same level of reputation. According to the Reputation Institute, the reputation of on organization depends in the some time on its own actions but also on the stakeholders' perception.