A growing number of companies focus not just on generating economic value but on expanding their perspective, including social, human, and environmental aspects. Historically, companies mainly included corporate social responsibility (CSR) in their activities in economically promising times. But can CSR be applied in economically difficult times, too, as a potential strategic mechanism to recover from a company crisis? This study aims to advance understanding of strategic CSR and crisis recovery, and their possible relationship. The case study's findings suggest that strategic CSR can have a positive impact on crisis recovery and promote the revision of established practices required to manage a company crisis. The findings have relevance to companies seeking to innovate in the CSR space, to social entrepreneurs, and to researchers and practitioners interested in these topics. means that employees are not only informed but also have the potential means to influence decision making. This degree of participation is critical; it influences the success of projects (Steurer et al., 2005), including the crisis management projects in our case, and thus can provide a 'win-win' situation for employees.Unfortunately, business democracy in the context of strategic CSR has not received the required research attention. Democracy within companies often entails just basic democracy, such that all employees can influence the entire organization, which might lead to paralysis. Better methods to engage employees in a democratic way can still enable the company to recover from crisis, such as meetings that adopt world-café or open-space options and high degrees of self-organization in the workplace. The results of these efforts include clearer, more direct communication paths and a stronger focus on teamwork, which ultimately lead to out-of-the-box thinking and stronger internal networks. Improved social structures also can enhance the development of social innovations in organizations, as related capabilities get learned and shared through social contexts when people meet and spread knowledge, skills, and information (Schreyögg & Kliesch-Eberl, 2007). Such empowerment and democratization or what Zwetsloot and Allegro (1994) and Zwetsloot (2005) call involvement and participationtogether with communication and cooperation can enable organizational learning processes in line with corporate social responsibility practices.Degree to Which the Project Creates Stakeholder Engagement PECO International deepened its contacts with local and regional partners. To intensify the degree of stakeholder engagement, it used networks, communication platforms, and direct collaborations. These forms of cooperation helped expand its current knowledge; allowed the various partners to benefit from one another's know-how and services; and created better interactions with (and thus better understanding of) the external environment, including suppliers, distributors, customers, and the local community. Stakeholders offer crucial information about product...