What's the future of corporate social responsibility? That's the unanswered question with the prospect of a bad US recession looming, threatening to take the world with it. Will companies continue to embrace it when they are battling for survival? Or will changing market conditions redefine corporate social responsibility.

Perhaps it's a bit of both.

As Paul Maidment points out in Forbes, corporate social responsibility is now being redefined. Speaking in Davos last week, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates called for a new form of corporate social responsibility, what he called "creative capitalism" where companies would spend money on projects that are socially desirable. "I hope corporations will dedicate a percentage of their top innovators' time to issues that could help people left out of the global economy," Gates said. "This kind of contribution is even more powerful than giving cash or offering employees' time off to volunteer. It is a focused use of what your company does best. It is a great form of creative capitalism, because it takes the brainpower and makes life better for the richest, and dedicates some of it to improving the lives of everyone else. There are a number of pharmaceutical companies, like GlaxoSmithKline, that are already putting their top innovators to work on new approaches to help the poor. Another example is sumitomo Chemical, who used its expertise to build a bed net factory that it donated. Other companies are doing the same - in food, technology, cell phones, banking. In fact, I would say that if other companies in a sector simply matched what the leader in that sector is doing, we would make a dramatic impact against the world's inequities."

It's an interesting call although as CNET News.com's Declan McCullagh points out, Gates might be missing the point - a lot of companies are already bankrolling charities and causes.

Still, there's an even more important issue. How will companies embrace "creative capitalism" when they already struggle to do corporate social responsibility that well.



It's point taken up by The Economist. Most of it is defensive and reactive, and companies are still struggling to work out how it contributes to their bottom line.

So what future does CSR have in times of recession. I have to agree with the Guardian's Daniel Franklin in his blog.

As he says, CSR continues to grow but tougher economic times might sort things out. It might force companies to do some hard thinking and fine tune it. "Some pet projects with no obvious benefit for the business will be dropped," says Franklin. "But thoughtful companies will keep at it, with a keener understanding that CSR efforts needed to be sharply focused - and require hard work and careful implementation - if businesses are to live up to the increasingly common mantra of "doing well by doing good".