Corporate social responsibility “is not quite dead,“ writes Michael Skapinker, a columnist for The Financial Times.

Mr. Skapinger felt compelled to respond to Harvard Business Review’s Conversation Starter blog posting by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore, authors of “Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want,“ who say that in 2008, “CSR will be seen for the sham that it is.”

In the blog, the authors say that consumers are bound to increasingly seek out “enterprises that offer transformational change as the very substance of its offerings” and will “reject initiatives that merely front as the means to sell more wares.”

Mr. Pine and Mr. Gilmore therefore anticipate that dollars will “flow less to promotional programs like Product (Red) and more to fully dedicated ventures like micro-lending site kiva.org.”

While profits will always drive a companies’ overall strategy, Mr. Skapinger acknowledges, working to improve society remains especially crucial for companies that do business in “emerging markets.”

“Companies cannot thrive in collapsing societies,” he writes. “Without political stability, the future of business is grim: look at Kenya or, worse, Zimbabwe. Stability has many components, but prosperity is one of the most important… For companies, supporting education, entrepreneurs and good nutrition is more than philanthropy: it is money well spent.”

Corporate responsibility is more than a passing fad, Mr. Skapinger writes. “It does not really matter what you call it: being alert to business threats and opportunities, wherever they come from, will not go out of fashion.”

What do you think? What do consumers expect from businesses when it comes to interacting with society? Click on the comment link below this post to share your thoughts.