CSR is based on a pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility – financial, legal, ethical and discretionary – and its applicability to general business practices. The rationale for this pyramid is that there is a natural progression of any business from being financially sustainable to an ultimate progression of volunteer engagement in social actions.
Nevertheless there is no concrete evidence that demonstrates the applicability of the concept to business strategy. The perceived applicability of CSR in business strategies balances marketing strategies of brand enhancement with an inefficient solution against global poverty in emergent economies. Many now question the idea of Fair Trade and wonder whether the global labor standards set by developed nations are naïve when considering the economic, social and cultural factors of each country.