Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Implementation in South Korea: Lessons from American and British CSR Policies

The primary purpose of this research is to distinguish between government-led and society-led implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The first part of this paper works to answer the question of why CSR has remained largely a Western phenomenon. Then, through a comparison between the United Kingdom and the United States, research for this study suggests that the U.K. tends to adopt the top-down approach whereas the U.S. adopts a bottom-up approach towards CSR. The second part of this research revolves around what these findings suggest in order to advance the overall CSR program within South Korea. It argues that South Korea needs to adopt more of the top-down approach for the better enactment and implementation of CSR.