The huge spread of information in nowadays' world leads society into the commoditization of products. Therefore, companies need to seek new forms of differentiation. The main objective of the following article is to show the importance of the social responsibility practice by companies and of proving their social activities to the public through the Social Balance Sheet. This work was done based on research and reading of articles written by representative Brazilian personalities on the subject in question. From such data it could be identified that there is a growing number of companies moving towards assuming responsibilities related to their employees, clients, suppliers, stockholders, to the community where they act and to the environment. Besides, social actions have increased importance in the decision making process of purchase, as the awareness of consumers to the degree of citizenship that certain products or services represent rise. In the light of such, the conclusion that is reached is that the Social Balance Sheet can be used by executives as a strategic tool to Marketing management.
Social balance sheet; social responsibility; social marketing; strategic philantropy; difereciation