Leadership in Action: Being Responsible: Boards are Reexamining the Bottom Line

DIFFERENT MEANINGS

At the same time, within Europe substantially different understandings of CSR exist. Its meaning varies according to the national and regional culture. In Scandinavia generally and also in some French companies, for instance, there tends to be a socially oriented view of responsibility to citizens and the community. To finance such responsibility to a broad spectrum of stakeholders, Scandinavians are required to pay high taxes; the more affluent pay rates of 70 percent or more. The rationale is that everyone throughout society will live better, especially the less fortunate. Sweden and Denmark are among the countries that provide the highest levels of health care irrespective of the ability to pay. In the United States, the ...