Study by Björn Bloching; Frauke Windmüller; Dorit Winkler, 2006

• Corporate responsibility (CR) is a strategic business approach that reconciles economic with social and ecological success.
• Companies expect CR to remain important and even gain relevance in the years ahead.

60% of the companies surveyed use CR to manage risk and to enhance and even generate business. Nevertheless, managing risk still holds the attention of management and is given the most resources.

There are distinct patterns regarding companies' CR activities:
Companies in one industry display significant similarities regarding the number of important stakeholders and CR topics. They focus their activities on the same phases of the product life cycle. Moving beyond industry similarities, a company's "sphere of influence" and focus on product life cycle phases can be explained by distance to end-consumer and product complexity.

The underlying CR patterns shape how companies practice CR along the value chain.