Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Performance: Exploring the Influence of Business Group Affiliation, Regulatory Mandates, and Strategic Balance Between Purpose and Profit—A Theoretical and Empirical Framework

There has been a great deal of research and discussion in the last few decades about the link between CSR and financial success for businesses. While some studies indicate that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives boost a business’s reputation, encourage customer loyalty, and eventually lead to better financial results, other studies view these expenses as a trade-off with profitability. How corporations are incorporating environmental and social concerns into their day-to-day operations is the focus of this research. This paper critically assesses the effectiveness of the amended Companies Act, 2013, in advancing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives among firms. It explores the linkage between CSR and corporate performance by drawing upon established theoretical frameworks, including the resource-based view, agency theory, and stakeholder theory. By conducting an integrative literature review of available empirical research, the paper brings to attention the heterogeneity of research results and emphasizes the contextual variables as an industry classification, a geographical region, and a methodology that would be applied to measure the CSR activities. The study also tries to analyse how the business affiliation to a business group, statutory requirements and the strategic alignment of social purpose, profitability develops a theoretical and practical comprehension of CSR in the India corporate sector.