ABSTRACT: Purpose of paper. The aim of the paper is to provide an analytical overview of the academic output of eminent Italian scholars in the period in question on the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility with a view to obtaining useful insights into more recent CSR theory. – Methodology/Approach. This paper analyses the works published by five of the most eminent Economia Aziendale scholars in the period from the end of the Second World War to the 1970s in order to identify shared characteristics in their ideas concerning the social responsibility of businesses. The approach adopted is horizontal (cross-sectional analysis of the theme, namely the development over a twenty-year period of the concept of CSR) and synchronic: it involves examining history in the light of contemporary thinking in order to understand more clearly the developments that have brought us to the present. – Findings. The first conclusions to emerge are that the ideas contained in these writings are not only strikingly innovative for their time but also relevant to CSR as defined in international literature today. Indeed, the analysis carried out so far suggests that the teachings of the Italian Economia Aziendale scholars can offer a potentially valuable contribution to the international debate on CSR. – Originality. The originality of this paper derives from the fact that the theme of Corporate Social Responsibility has rarely been examined from a historical point of view and that the development of the theme in Italy has rarely been examined through analysis of the ideas of the leading Italian Economia Aziendale Scholars.
KEYWORDS: Economia aziendale, Corporate Social Responsibility, Azienda, social role of company, added value.
