A Marketing Approach to Corporate Social Engagement
Dr. André Carlos Martins Menck, Dr. João Bento de Oliveira Filho

Abstract
This paper draws on a conceptual framework that attributes to consumers the primacy in justifying corporate social engagement. After a brief literature review and discussion on consumers being the ultimate accountable for the costs of corporate social behavior, we look at a marketing model that operationalizes socially responsible actions as marketing tools. The idea presented here is that it is strategically sound to regard a company getting socially involved as a way of creating value for consumers. In the proposed approach, corporate social responsible actions are regarded as a source of competitive advantage in the fight for consumers, subject to the observation of certain marketing driven parameters. The major consequence of this view is that environmentalists and any stakeholders with specific social interests should not try to impose socially responsible behavior on firms, but rather try to educate consumers about the environmental needs of society.

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