(The Conference Board: New York) -- Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities have the potential to enhance customer value in many ways, The Conference Board Inc. said in a recently published report.

“Investing in CSR to Enhance Customer Value,” the most recent installment in The Conference Board Director Notes  series includes a review of 163 articles about the relationship between CSR activities and financial performance. It finds that this relationship is affected by many mediating variables, and that the metrics used to measure CSR vary widely.

The report points out four distinct forms of CSR-related value for customers: the efficiency of a product or service, the aesthetic appreciation of consuming a product, the social status a customer acquires from using a product, and the social or environmental benefit a community can derive from widespread dissemination of a product.

 …