Corporate social responsibility and structural change in financial services

This paper argues that when corporate social responsibility (CSR) is conceptualised pragmatically as a response by businesses to society's concerns it acts as an element of structural change with implications for the strategies of firms and ultimately for industry structure. Furthermore, industry specific aspects of CSR are important and governmental influences and financial regulation provide an added dimension to the impact of CSR on the financial services industry. As an element of structural change, CSR acts as an environmental discontinuity and forces firms to realign their positions within their operating environment. A structural change paradigm is developed to examine trends which are emerging within retail banking as a result of CSR. In the UK retail banking sector, the impact of CSR is increasingly manifest in the efforts to create a competitive advantage out of CSR strategies, the growing prominence of mutual financial institutions in government policy and collaborative efforts between a range of financial institutions.