What is the difference between CSR and business ethics?

The term ethics and social responsibility is used interchangeably by most people. Ethics usually refer to what is right and what is wrong. Responsibility is stated as the different obligations of the firm to the general public or stakeholders of the firm. In short, we can say that business ethics means deciding what is right for the firm and social responsibility means doing the right thing to uplift society as a whole.

Social responsibility and ethics go hand in hand in a business. Social responsibility means following business ethics and carrying out activities for the upliftment of society. These ethics are followed by the firm so that the firm will have a privilege over another unethical firm among the common public. Social responsibility differs from business to business whereas there are certain ethical terms like employee consideration which are mandatorily followed by the firms.

A socially responsible firm will follow business ethics whereas an ethical firm doesn't need to carry out social activities for the development of society. It is always the choice of the firm to follow ethical conduct and carry out social responsibility according to ethical terms. We can understand that business ethics is a broader sense and social responsibilities are based on the ethics of the business.