Current Global Practices of Corporate Social Responsibility

The chapter aims to trace a state-of-the-art development of the corporate social responsibility and sustainability debate and practices in Albania, a post-communist country that, in the last few decades, has made drastic political and economic changes. Rapid urbanisation, higher economic activity and population growth place multiple pressures on environmental and social problems. In the last decade, to create an enabling environment for the promotion of CSR, the Albanian government—with the leadership of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy (METE) and the support of UNDP—has developed a National Action Plan for CSR. Currently, the implementation process of CSR policies by the Albanian government seems to be accelerating due to the EU accession process, creating a competitive advantage with a high CSR performance over other Balkan states.Starting from these premises, the chapter introduces a literature review aimed to point out the institutional factors that influence CSR diffusion and identify the gaps that should be filled in order to improve the knowledge of CSR in Albania. Secondly, the work addresses the practical implementation of CSR, focusing on some cases relative to both large and small-sized enterprises, in order to point out the barriers faced and evaluate the potentials of the top-down and/or bottom-up approaches adopted by Albanian companies.

Austria has emerged as one of the most successful European countries from the recent economic and financial crises. The country consistently displays high standards of security, environmental conservation, relatively little social inequality, good infrastructure, and a functioning welfare system. Its economic model, sometimes called the (eco) social market economy, seeks to balance economic and societal concerns and is rooted in a long established social partnership (denoting the formalized relationships between the government, employer, and employee interest groups). Given this firmly entrenched and institutionalized form of social solidarity, Austria has developed into a hidden champion in the field of CSR in several ways. Since 2003, institutional stakeholders, including the Austrian Business Council for Sustainable Development, the Austrian Economic Chambers and the Federation of Austrian Industries, together with several Austrian ministries and other stakeholders have jointly contributed to the firm establishment of CSR in Austria. In addition, a broad range of CSR focused academic and professional training programmes have developed in Austria, promoting skills and knowledge on responsible management practices. Austria also features a variety of internationally renowned cooperation programmes between municipalities, consultancies and companies to establish environmental management practices at the local level and maintains a successful system of grants and subsidies for environmental improvements. The latter have led to the successful implementation of more than 40,000 measures in Austrian companies over the past 20 years, even though they are not necessarily branded as CSR initiatives. Austria also chose an unconventional approach in the implementation of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive of the European Commission in Austria in 2016/2017. In addition to its translation into national law, the Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism concluded a voluntary agreement on minimum standards for auditing sustainability reports with companies, consultancies and auditors (rather than setting guidelines for reporting about itself). This illustrates a certain propensity to employ unconventional and innovative approaches to embedding CSR.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Belgium has developed particularly since the early 1990s, its focus changing from addressing environmental issues to more comprehensive approaches towards CSR, notably the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This chapter sets out to describe the development of CSR and the CSR institutional infrastructure in Belgium from the 1990s onwards. Since current CSR discourse in Belgium has clearly pivoted towards the SDGs, the lion’s share of this chapter addresses the intersection of the SDGs and Belgian industry, based on the findings of the first baseline study on the SDGs in Belgium, the SDG Barometer. The SDG Barometer explores the extent, nature and characteristics of commitments of Belgian organizations with the SDGs, including driving forces, prioritization of SDGs, internal coordination and communication of the SDG commitments. After the results are presented, these findings are discussed and several avenues for future research based on the findings of the SDG Barometer are identified.

In the following text authors describe the development of business ethics (BE), corporate social (ir)responsibility (CSR, CSI), and sustainability (SUS) practices, policies, and initiatives in Croatia in the period 2013–2019. This is also the period of Croatia’s membership in the EU, and this membership influenced national policies compared to the period. The text is divided in three main parts which deal with three major aspects, namely: national BE, CSR, and SUS in the context of business environment, further on national BE, CSR, and SUS policies, practices, and some cases, and BE, CSR, and SUS at Croatia’s HEIs. The mentioned aspects of BE, CSR and SUS in Croatia are described using publicly available data. This overview provides a brief description and evaluation of the current status of BE, CSR, and SUS in Croatia that could be of interest to researchers, students, governmental institutions, NGOs, and businesses planning to enter the Croatian market.

Denmark presents a country with ambitious policies for corporate social responsibility (CSR). This is reflected by the fact that major Danish companies have promoted the global CSR and sustainability agenda since the 1990s. The Scandinavian countries in general have succeeded in earning a reputation as global sustainability front runners, and Denmark is part of that storyline. The general storyline is about a transformation from limited understandings of CSR to more comprehensive conceptions of sustainability that include.To show this development, the chapter provides a review of CSR in Denmark spanning the last couple of decades with a purview to government initiatives, the significance of the industrial foundations, and the impact of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).First, two examples are presented of how the government has been actively advancing CSR, making it mandatory for larger businesses to report on the expanding agenda on corporate sustainability, and by establishing ‘The Mediation and Complaints-Handling Institution for Responsible Business Conduct’ in 2012—this is the Danish national OECD contact point.Second, particular to the Danish business tradition are the Danish industrial foundations. They can be argued to provide favorable conditions for CSR by means of corporate governance that includes the long-term interest and the common good of society.Third, from the launch of the UN SDGs in 2015, the SDGs have been embraced across all sectors, ranging from the state to major corporations and civil society. The SDG agenda exemplifies a bottom-up governance approach that adjusts well to the Danish tradition for voluntary engagement in democratic decision-making of civil society. We foresee that the SDGs provide a call for new forms of leadership and management.

The desire for sustainable development (SD) and its implementation within business has emerged during the past decades calling for more effective production in response to human needs in the social, economic and environmental dimensions. Institutionalization of environmental management practices was the first phase of business responsibilities. The concept of corporate social responsibilities took place in the second phase of the responsible business debate. The ongoing third phase is turning the organizational inside-out perspective to an outside-in approach (i.e. the business contributes products and services to resolve pressing sustainability issues in its society).Using the institutional organization theory as a background for the conceptual framework based on environmental management, value creation through corporate responsibility and truly sustainable business models, this paper analyses the development of corporate responsibility reporting in three Finnish large-scale companies representing the energy, grocery, and pulp and paper sectors. Evidence for the development of business strategies from environmental management towards truly sustainable business were looked at through qualitative analysis.Finnish large-scale companies have been the forerunners in the adoption of global responsibility and reporting practices. The content of the studied report was developed most intensively from the late 1990s until the mid-2000s. The content analysis demonstrated the adoption of well institutionalized managerial concepts, namely environmental management and corporate responsibility. The reports shared little evidence of the adoption of truly sustainable approaches. However, the homepages of all three companies indicate large potential for this kind of positive impact.Globally acceptable reporting frameworks provide a large set of sustainability criteria that could provide new perspectives to evaluate the sustainability of operations. This standardized reporting seldom leads to a wider consideration of the potential for value creation and the larger sustainability impacts of operations, since companies (commonly) apply the parts of the larger framework that are relevant to daily business.

Developments in finance relating to CSR and, more broadly, to sustainable development (SRI funds, for example) have shown that this emerging finance is not entirely “alternative” in the original sense of the term, meaning another form of finance alongside the financial markets. A genuinely climate-friendly or resilient finance is emerging and its causes are well known: the burgeoning worldwide population and rising levels of GHG (greenhouse gases) driven by the fossil-fuels industry, transport and cities.The Paris Agreement ( http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/fre/l09f.pdf ) signed on 12 December 2015 is an important milestone. Europe is an undisputed leader with the “Juncker Plan” of November 2014 aiming to re-launch investment in Europe and unblock public and private investments. It is in line with the need for decarbonisation already set out in the European Parliament resolution of 5 February 2014 “on a 2030 framework for climate and energy policies” (2013/2135 (INI)) ( http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2014-0094+0+DOC+XML+V0//FR ) drawing on the Commission Green Paper entitled “A 2030 framework for climate and energy policies” (COM (2013).However, this climate finance brings specific requirements, despite considerable private-sector efforts, such as the Green Bond Principles or the Carbon Tracker Initiative (CTI): a need for transparency, to combat greenwashing and to establish a genuine market for Green Bonds.In France, in 2008 the Paris Marketplace launched a major initiative on sustainable finance with a Responsible Investment Charter which was supplemented in 2012 by 10 proposals for Europe on SRI and CSR. Then the TEEC label (Transition Energétique et Ecologique pour le Climat—Energy and Ecological Transition for the Climate) launched at the end of 2015 aims to guarantee the transparency and quality of the environmental features of such financial products via an independent external audit. Yet, Article 173 of the French LTECV Act on the Energy Transition for Green Growth is an example to be followed (17th August 2015).

This chapter characterises Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from a German perspective. It examines whether and how the German political and socio-economic stakeholder response to sustainable development differs from the practices undertaken in other countries. By reviewing its historical development, key influencing factors, and current trends, this qualitative review, based exclusively on secondary data, forms an information basis from which Germany’s past CSR choices are critically investigated. The authors reason that the ‘recipe’ which led to the post-war German success story has paid too much attention to the Washington Consensus and does not reflect how capitalism should ideally work. Recent German scandals have born witness to the clash of shareholders maximising their income, which was done by stealth, while pretending to serve stakeholders and the environment. Germany has traditionally fast followed other countries and now is the time to pioneer again and show that a capitalism conscious of the needs of society is the best way forward. The authors call on Germany to follow the courage of her former social market economy convictions which are better adapted to post-capitalism. Asia’s commendable growth rates reveal the merit of this approach. A key premise in this realisation is a mind-set transition in which decision-makers cease making choices from the perspective of the past. The authors conclude that at a corporate response level, Germany could better utilise her unique stakeholder-orientated Mittelstand culture by empowering creative people thereby driving innovative sustainable solutions and ultimately economic growth.

In this chapter the different drivers of CSR policy and activities are highlighted, and the present state of CSR in Hungary is described.The chapter is structured in the following way: after a short introduction to CSR in general and in the EU (first part), the study introduces the history and present state of CSR policy in Hungary, which has been highly influenced by EU-level policy and Hungary’s EU membership. This (second) part presents the main sources of legislation: especially the Hungarian National Action Plan on CSR. Afterwards it discusses the Action Plan’s main topics and priorities, as well as its connections to the EU-level CSR policy, and finally describes to what extent the Action Plan meets the expectations of the business sector. Furthermore, an explanation is provided as to why responsible employment constitutes the main vertical priority of the Action Plan, and why economic development and environmental protection related issues are given lesser importance.The third part of the chapter reviews recent research on the main topics, motivators and obstacles of CSR in the Hungarian business sector. The emergence of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the issue of sustainability as such have enabled companies to take a holistic approach to CSR and have also provided new challenges for them to meet. In the scope of the pertaining discussion, explicit and implicit forms of CSR are distinguished.In the fourth part of the chapter, diverse trends of sustainabilitySustainabilityreporting reporting are described in their capacity as the main communication and disclosure tool of CSR. During the economic crisis many companies discontinued to issue such reports, but the topic got a new impetus when sustainability reporting was linked with the EU legislation at the end of 2016, when Hungary adopted the Directive on disclosure of non-financial and diversityDiversity information (2014/95/EU).Finally, it is observed that in Hungary the pressure from stakeholders is weak, and they expect increased state-level intervention and control in CSR issues. Furthermore, companies’ motivational drivers are not clear: business caseBusiness case related considerations seem to preserve their continued importance. As for international initiatives, SDGs are the newest and they have been gaining significance since their appearance; even so the shift from explicit to implicit CSR is only partly visible.

The chapter aims to provide a picture of the most relevant developments regarding CSR that have occurred in the last decade in Italy from a theoretical, institutional and practical perspective. It includes a preliminary analysis of latest Italian academic studies that have investigated the CSR concept and CSR practices among Italian companies, while also pointing out the institutional and political conditions that favoured the development of CSR at the national and local level. In this regard, both national and regional laws and norms are considered. Subsequently, the chapter addresses the most important initiatives on CSR, both at a private and public level, involving both large companies and SMEs. This work contributes to the description of the position of CSR in Italy, where several private and public approaches coexist and frequently take the form of Territorial Social Responsibility. Finally, it critically discusses the ‘Italian model of CSR’ in the current scenario and provides insights on Italy’s future path toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has recently become a developing subject in the Republic of Moldova. CSR is frequently addressed in local publications, emphasizing the importance and timeliness of implementing appropriate social policies, since Moldovan companies are not familiar enough with the impact of CSR and implied opportunities for establishing a positive reputation of the company on the market, gain loyalty to the brand, etc.Currently, the perceptionPerception of the CSR notion varies in the Republic of Moldova. The population, largely influenced by the former socialist ideology, expects businesses to solve social problems instead of the state. It is assumed that companies must take responsibility for the social protection, including rest and treatment packages and create various facilities for well-being at work. In turn, many business people consider that their social responsibility lies with job creation only, by providing employees with middle wage standard and paying taxes. Thus, social responsibility is conceived more as philanthropic activity in the entrepreneurs’ mind-sets.During the development of the CSR concept in the Republic of Moldova, various studies have been carried out in this field. The latest highlight that companies prioritize social actions in employee-oriented initiatives, followed by actions for the benefit of the community and less attention paid to consumer issues. Thus, a very small number of companies are involved in customer and disability-oriented services, prophylaxis of professional diseases, etc. Businesses treat them as additional costs, not taking into account that these initiatives can have a positive impact on economic performance.Although we cannot yet speak of significant achievements in CSR, it’s been steadily developing mainly in companies with foreign or mixed capital. As they are not limited to philanthropicPhilanthropic actions, but alone initiate social sensitivity projects, focused on interaction with stakeholders and addressing serious social problems.

The overall development of the society and its’ improvement toward higher economic, political and cultural stage, leads to shift in boundaries and change in the way in which the society functions. Profit is no more the main objective of the companies, but the enterprises have included the social agenda as their key corporate driver.Although the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) is widely accepted in developed countries, it is very little practiced in developing, and especially in transitionTransition economies. Namely, the companies in these countries have gone through restructuring process, and are still struggling to survive. Furthermore, the transformation from socialist economy to a market economy has resulted in creating a form of “wild capitalism”.Republic of North Macedonia as a transition country has gone through the same processes as the other transition economies. The CSR concept was introduced for the first time in 2002, through the activities of international organizations. However, the real actions, projects, agendas, baseline studies have followed in the period after 2006. Today, the CSR concept is mainly promoted by the multinational corporations, which with large companies have invested in North Macedonia. SMEs have still very low level of knowledge about the CSR concept, its’ advantages, importance and benefits. Most of them are not even aware that some actions that they are taking are related to the CSR concept.The chapter gives broad presentation of the CSR concept in the Republic of North Macedonia. It begins with a description of the historical perspective of CSR development in North Macedonia. Then a review is given of some of the most important activities, projects related to the CSR, which were implemented by the international organizations, government and other public institutions. The chapter uses results from the previously conducted interviews, surveys, questionnaires, but it also carries out its’ own researches about the way in which the most successful companies in North Macedonia are practicing CSR in reality.

The chapter CSR in Poland presents selected issues of corporate social responsibility which constitute the current field for discussion conducted by scientists and business entities.The corporate social responsibility is a relatively new concept in Poland, only recently present in the public discourse. The chapter will outline the implementation of the CSR concept in Poland, which is influenced by the socio-economic situation, history, and the activity of social actors as well. There will be also described the foundations on which Polish CSR is basing. In this context it is important to mention about the entities and their activities which give the main tone to the development of CSR in Poland. The background for discussing the indicated issues will be the relationship between CSR and the category of company’s stakeholders, including, in particular, the so-called internal stakeholders (managers, employees) and external stakeholders and their expectations related to the functioning of the enterprise.The situation in Poland will be also presented in reference to the results of empiricalEmpirical own research carried out with the diagnostic survey method and using the questionnaire as a research tool. The survey was conducted in 2014, on a sampleSamples of 386 enterprises. Discussing the results of this research will have an introductory nature to this chapter—it will indicate what (according to the surveyed entrepreneurs) may be classified as responsible behavior in business. Referring to the results of the mentioned research, there will be also given the answers to the question whether the company, as an entity operating in a competitive market, should engage in meeting the needs and expectations reported by the company’s stakeholders (even if the needs go beyond the basic area of the company).Considerations carried out in the chapter will allow to identify characteristic trends, challenges as well as threats and barriers for CSR in Poland.

The topic of the social responsibility has a long footing in different societies around the world, and also in the Romanian society, especially in the last 10 years. Indubitably the transition to a decentralized economy started in 1990 and the accession as an EU member state in 2007 change a lot the Romanian society, business environment and corporate governance culture. Thus, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has increased and it is nowadays an item to take into consideration on the corporate agenda in Romania. This chapter describes how CSR evolved in an emerging economy as Romania and what specificities presents in this sort of environment. It all begins with the emerge of CSR in Romanian after 1990, then the national regulations concerning CSR are analyzed, followed by the status of CSR practices and reporting especially in the case of listed companies. However, in the last decade the practices on corporate responsibilities have improved in Romania along with the markets’ evolution, with the market’s demands and the change in costumers’ behavior.

Serbia has the specific tradition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) due to the still ongoing transition from planned and central to the market economy. Previous research showed that the concept of CSR is broadly perceived more in the context of philanthropy and financial support. In the last decade, practices of multinational companies which operate in Serbia have a high impact on how CSR is practiced and perceived in Serbia. We analyzed publically available reports and evidence related to the CSR practices of the top 100 companies operating in Serbia. Content analysis was conducted to determine how they practice and perceive CSR. To explore association within attributes of companies with areas and beneficiaries of their CSR practice we used Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests. The main findings presented in this chapter indicate that companies operating in Serbia generally perceive CSR practices in five main areas: Environment, Education, Health, Sports, and Volunteerism. Further, companies in Serbia are most familiar with CSR practices related to the environmental area, as well as, the volunteerism, and they recognize the local community, society in general, and vulnerable groups as main CSR beneficiaries. Company size and location are not proven to be in association with areas and beneficiaries of CSR practices. However, the MNCs have more categories of CSR beneficiaries comprehended, and they tend to develop CSR practices in which they consider the influence on society in general.

There is now a body of literature covering the history of CSR in Sweden and the shapes that the concept has taken in Swedish business. In recent years, however, a number of overarching trends have influenced the understandings and practices of CSR in Sweden. This chapter identifies such trends and discusses their implications. Thereby it complements earlier descriptions of CSR in welfare states.The chapter identifies three interrelated tendencies affecting how CSR has developed in Sweden: First, the regulatory development including both hard and soft regulation; second, an outspoken governance perspective on CSR, including ownership pressure on business to operate according to sustainability criteria; third, the interwoven demands of the multi-stakeholder context and business concerns that co-exist and define business practices.One conclusion is that CSR in Sweden has become strongly conditioned by institutional and ideological paradigms that define responsible business behavior. Political and multi-stakeholder activism influences CSR thinking to a higher extent today compared to a decade ago. It is obvious that the concept of sustainability has gained ground at the expense of CSR. Swedish companies do not object to being part of the sustainability agenda.

The history of CSR in the Netherlands can be characterized by a regularly changing focus and leadership oscillating between government and business. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the first focus of attention in what we now call sustainability was social issues. The government took the first step with a law to improve the social well-being of the population, but the major follow-up steps were taken by a few leaders within the business community. It was then the government in the 1980s that asked companies to give attention to the environmental effects of their actions. However, the role of the government in that area became increasingly passive over time, and the business community took the lead. Recently, the Dutch government has again grabbed the steering wheel by establishing very ambitious goals in the field of energy and with regard to a circular economy. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly clear that there can no longer be any question of leaders and followers: the government and the business community are now working intensively together to achieve the intended goals. This is not only within the Netherlands but increasingly across national borders. In this contribution, we describe these developments regarding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Netherlands, and highlight what is special about the CSR activities in the Netherlands by outlining some individual cases, and explain the background to these activities.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been one of the most dynamic concepts of business literature. It evolves over time and significantly varies across contexts. The joint effect of these two dimensions requires analyzing the notion of social responsibility more frequently than most concepts. The current study attempts to contribute to the literature by focusing on the current practices of CSR in Turkey. In addition to the large-scale effect of global industrial trends and technological advancements, Turkey has also experienced a highly complex political, economic, and social transition during the 2000s. Considering the impact of dynamic and competing institutional logics, the study tries to provide a deeper understanding on how CSR perception and practices have evolved in Turkish business context to date. The study reveals that philanthropic component of CSR has been strengthened as a phenomenon in the nexus of family, religion, community, and market logics. Whereas, the ethical and environmental components are not fully integrated into the CSR agenda of Turkish business organizations. CSR has been also polarized during the 2000s in line with the overall political climate of country. Under the politics of government party, which has been in the office since 2002, business organizations are highly cautious on which issues they should address or whom they should work with.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has evolved to become a fundamental component of every organisation. The debate surrounding CSR has moved from whether organisations should practice CSR to how CSR is being practised and its effect on various aspects of the firm and larger society. From its meaning to its scope, the concept of CSR has advanced and continues to advance. This chapter explores the nature of corporate social responsibility in the United Kingdom. It includes how companies practice CSR by examining the various dimensions of CSR issues disclosed in the annual report. It also examines some of the key drivers of CSR as well as the performance effect of CSR. The chapter also presents some organisations promoting CSR in the UK as well as the role of the UK government in CSR.

The purpose of the research at hand is to map the most prominent social initiatives currently implemented in Egypt. Since the responsibility of addressing social problems lies on all social agents, the social initiatives included in the current research do not belong to a certain sector, but rather to both private and public sector, as well as to different types of entities ranging from private companies to foundations, and NGOs, among others. The scanning of social initiatives is done across 15 different social areas, which are as follows; Education and Skills Development, Healthcare, Training for Employment, Entrepreneurial Support, Economic and Social Reintegration, Philanthropic Acts, AwarenessAwareness Awareness raising Raising, Poverty alleviation and Community Development, Environmental Preservation, Sustainable BusinessBusiness Practices, Sports-Arts and Culture, Capacity building, Partnership Facilitation, Bottom of the Pyramid InclusionBottom of the Pyramid Inclusion and Gender Equality. The examination of each social area is done in light of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Egypt’s 2030 Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS), set forth by the United Nations, and the Egyptian government, respectively.

In many parts of Ghana, communities, state agencies and other organisations lie in wait for some support from firms. But the moral obligation to attend to these basic needs of all these organisations does not in itself say much of about how such an obligation should be discharged or whether it can be achieved and over what time period. The boundary-less nature of CSR whilst creating that altruistic tendency has also left in its wake a dependence syndrome which when unmanaged effectively often attenuates the whole concept, leading to misunderstandings and often bad relationships.The chapter explores this aspect of CSR that is less debated or is very much under-researched. It focuses on Ghana, where community members and other stakeholders make excessive and incessant demands on firms operating within their vicinities. It provides an insight into how these pressures are creating unpleasant situations for firms. The role, responsibilities, and actions of firms in relation to these beneficiaries are furthermore reflected upon, and finally, the chapter offers a way forward as to what can be done in addressing the issue.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an important consideration in tourism and hospitality management, yet extensive empirical studies on how it is implemented in developing country’s context are lacking. Using qualitative methodology, this article addresses this knowledge gap by exploring CSR practices among hotels and accommodation providers in Malawi. Our findings demonstrate that a broad-based CSR agenda is slowly being pursued by certain firms although corporate philanthropy remains the major area of focus for most of the considered firms. The article further demonstrates differences in the choice of CSR agenda firms pursue can be influenced by the nature of firm’s ownership. Whereas locally owned and managed firms showed a strong orientation towards philanthropic-based CSR agenda, foreign owner/mangers favoured a broad-based CSR agenda.

Mauritius is an independent nation, a small island economy located in the Indian Ocean, off the South East Coast of Africa. Tourism, financial services, textile and sugar are central to its economy. Recent development strategies adopted by the government, with respect to corporate social responsibility (CSR), seek to ensure long-term growth and competitiveness of the Mauritian economy, while also addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This chapter reports on a mixed methods study which explores recent CSR trends in Mauritius, and seeks to expand the extant literature by providing insights from current practices in Mauritian organisations. The chapter first provides an overview of the conceptConcept of CSR as it is perceived and understood by the stakeholders involved in the local business environment. This is followed by a description of trends relating to the evolution of CSR. An assessment of the quality of the reports from a chosen sample of businesses is then reported using the Haqbek and Wolniak (Quality & quantity 50:399–420, 2016) framework. The various factors that emerged during analysis are discussed in the light of previous research in the field. Some insights into CSR initiatives being pursued by companies in Mauritius are provided, along with potential for future research. Ultimately, CSR is a growing practice in Mauritius, reinforced by the political and regulatory frameworks.

The purpose of this study is to explore how corporate social responsibility is practiced and understood in Nigeria. The Paper adopts a qualitative research design. A literature search is undertaken to situate the theory and practice of corporate social responsibility in Nigeria. A detailed content analysis of the annual reports and accounts of some selected companies quoted in the Nigerian Stock Exchange is undertaken to ascertain the current practices of social responsibility across sectorial divides as well as glean the perception of company management about corporate social responsibility in Nigeria. Areas of external social responsibility interventions are mainly in the field of educationEducation, health and security. The dominant view among corporate management is that corporate social responsibility is a means of “uplifting the well-being of the immediate community around their operational sites and participation in credible programmes in the general societySociety”. Thus many companies see CSR as mere philanthropy. As a result only very few of the companies had a well thought out strategy for their CSR interventions. A highly neglected area in respect of CSR practices is in respect of the environment. We document a weak institutional environment which offers no incentives for companies to scale up their CSR practices. Few of the companies are, however, beginning to see a nexus between good CSR practices and employee loyalty and performance. Also some companies are beginning to imbibe the idea that CSR, apart from philanthropy, should be targeted at helping the wider society ameliorate its daunting developmental challenges. Our study has implication for CSR regulation and practice in Nigeria.

Globally, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a complex issue, but even more so in a mineral rich, developing country such as South Africa. There are various interpretations, approaches and perceptions of CSR not only in different economic sectors, but also in different countries. These differences are obvious when comparing CSR in Westernised countries to the developing Global South.Given its large contribution to the country’s economy, this chapter will explore CSR in the South African mining sector, by giving a short historical overview of CSR. CSR in the South African mining industry will be discussed with special reference to the voluntary nature of CSR in South Africa, as well as the legislative frameworks and codes of conduct guiding CSR. Moreover, this chapter will provide an overview of the impact, or lack thereof, of CSR initiatives on South African mining communities. These mining adjacent communities experience numerous social, economic and environmental problems associated with mining activities, which will be highlighted.Lastly, the different stakeholders in the CSR and mining arena will be discussed, as well as their different roles in contributing to more successful CSR initiatives and sustainability interventions. This may assist in closing the gap between policy and practice regarding CSR in the mining sector, and also contribute to sustainable community development in these marginalised mining communities.

Globally, the clocking of the year 2015 marked a significant landmark in the Global Corporate Social Responsibility (GCSR) arena. That is, landmark in policy, research, practice, scholarly and managerial aspects of CSR agenda. This year saw how the ISO 26000ISO 26000 [a corporate social responsibility, CSR guidance standard] had been tested for 5 years since its inception in 2010, yet the MDGsMillennium developmental goals (MDGs) framework has ended. While the intermarriage of these two frameworks (ISO 26000, and, MDGsMillennium developmental goals (MDGs)) provided a basis for refinement of CSR to fit in a global CSR arena as witnessed by Katamba, Nkiko, Tushabomwe-Kazooba, et al., (International Journal of Social Economics, 39, 375–390, 2016) in their works, “Community Involvement and Development: An intermarriage of ISO 26000 and Millennium Development Goals,” the current SDGs framework 2030, presents a need to re-visit the effectiveness of CSR and sustainability interventions in a localized setting, that is, at local, regional or country level. Thus, the purpose/originality of this paper/chapter is to demonstrate how global sustainable developmentSustainable development Development [CSR] frameworks or standardsStandards can be localized for refinement of CSR activities. To realize this purpose, the authors have reviewed CSR publications from Uganda to identify how CSR is managed in 50 companiesCompanies that have won various CSR accolades in Uganda. Then these CSR managementSocial responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) management practicesPractices were matched against internationally proclaimed CSR [sustainable development] frameworks notably ISO 26000, SDG Agenda 2030Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)Agenda 2030, CEO Water MandateCEO Water Mandate, and UN Global CompactUN Global Compact (UNGC) in order to reveal the development impact realized after these activities are localized. The outcome was a profile of localized CSR activities of various companies. These CSR activities, thru the Adaptive Theory, have been generalized to form, ‘The Most Important CSR Issues in Uganda.’ To bring out the concept of localization, the chapter/paper proceeds to show how companies use these international framework [e.g., SDG Framework] to manage their CSR.

This chapter critically examines Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Zambia and argues that it has been unnecessarily heavily skewed, for decades, towards the mining sector. Although laudable, this approach is narrow and has militated against a comprehensive approach to CSR in the country. In arguing its case, the discussion looks at the state of CSR in the country, especially after the fall of the one-party state system in 1991. The chapter then locates CSR in the notion of engaged citizenship and argues for a broad-based CSR perspective that could incorporate other sectors of the economy. It is argued in the chapter that local entrepreneurs should be included in the proposed broad-based CSR. For this category of CSR, which puts local firms and entrepreneurs at the centre of innovations that raise the quality of life of the citizens, the chapter specifically looks at how the work of the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) could be leveraged by the State to drive a broad-based CSR agenda in Zambia that is also underpinned by nationalistic imperatives. Furthermore, the chapter also observes that foreign investors and companies operating in Zambia should be included in this new CSR thrust.

Nowadays, Bolivia is experiencing big social and economic changes. Due to strong economic growth and deep political changes, the Bolivian society has high expectations for a better future. However, historical social injustices, weak government institutions, corruption, poverty, unenforced regulations, low industrial productivity, and high economic informality are hindering that future. In developing countries where weak institutions do not address social problems sufficiently, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can serve as an alternative way to address social problems through corporate actions, rather than government actions, that seek to minimize harm to, and maximize benefits for, both disadvantaged social groups and the environment. Currently, private and public firms are attempting to use CSR practices to improve Bolivian people’s lives. However, as a developing country, CSR practices still are developing from philanthropy to sustainable practices. In this chapter, we argue how Bolivia’s specific country-specific context has shaped CSR practices in Bolivian private and public firms. Our analysis of contextual influences takes into consideration Bolivia’s situation along political, historical, socio-cultural, geographical, environmental, regulatory, institutional, business, economic and technological dimensions. Amongst other results, we find that most public and private firms use philanthropy as their main type of CSR practice. However, as we find through interviews, some firms are moving towards sustainable business practices as a more comprehensive type of CSR practices. We discuss Bolivian cases of successful CSR initiatives undertaken by private and public firms and outline future challenges for the success of CSR programs.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept embraced in Canada in multiple sectors with each having a variety of stakeholder groups. This chapter describes the multiple viewpoints about CSR according to the perspectives of different industries and how those perspectives influence the use and approach to CSR by Canadian firms. Founded in 1867, Canada has a short history but from the perspective of the indigenous people of Canada, the land has been settled for thousands of years. The arrival of European settlers approximately 500 years ago, and the establishment of businesses that extracted, processed, and traded natural resources destabilized an organizational system established by First Nations people that considered social responsibility and balance in the context of social and environmental stakeholders. However, the current dissonance of a natural resource extraction sector working within a culture of sustainability driven by global climate and societal changes is unique in a country like Canada and creates challenges for local firms to implement CSR. From today’s perspective of achieving CSR through sustainable goals (for example the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals), there are economic pressures on corporations to succeed using the available resources and contribute to a positive triple bottom line—creating economic, societal, and environmental value. At the rural level in Canada, firms are pushed towards sustainable farming methods with minimal environmental impact but high societal contributions. At the urban level in Canada, the influx of manufacturing and service corporations, increasing the pull of inhabitants to urban centres creates social, environmental and economic pressures that are difficult for municipalities to handle without the cooperation of corporations. This chapter focuses on the last ten to twenty years, where the paradox of living in a resource-rich country, is described from the perspective of what Canadian firms are doing at the corporate level and across industries to comply with institutional and societal pressures to improve their current CSR practices.

This chapter draws upon data collected over several research trips to Cuba undertaken between 2013 and 2017 that evidences how the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is understood there. Firstly, some background on Cuba is provided, describing the island nation’s economic journey from the status of a free enterprise oriented US ‘neo-colony’ in the first half of the twentieth century, through several decades of strong Soviet inspired state control after the 1959 revolution, before it gradually adopted what has been termed a ‘market socialist’ model after Fidel Castro left the Presidency in 2007. The chapter then presents a snapshot of the fledgling state of CSR in Cuba as understood and practised in newly licensed private small and medium-sized enterprises and state-business partnerships. The kinds of practices that are seen as belonging under the CSR umbrella are compared. The chapter acknowledges the unique political and economic conditions in Cuba and the problems that arise in applying concepts, measures and definitions which have been formulated in the context of Western economies. The chapter therefore provides an insight into how CSR is constructed in a country that has adopted cultural norms of solidarity and collectivist ethics. This is contrasted with the way the concept is understood and operationalized in liberal capitalist countries with paradigmatically ‘neoliberal’ and individualist values, where the norm of self-interest prevails in economic discourse. Finally, we argue that this case study of CSR in a highly regulated economy offers a valuable input to the on-going debate over the merits and demerits of strong state regulation in terms of achieving socially and environmentally responsible business practices.

The development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Mexico during the last two decades is closely linked to the various initiatives within the business sector. The first organizations that were involved with CSR (in the second half of the decade of 1990) rose as a central objective to integrate the concept of CSR in the sphere of business.During the last ten years the development of CSR in Mexico has taken a greater momentum. It is throughout this period that the Mexican Government has begun to have a most important role in CSR development.About this new role, it must be signaled that the Mexican State has signed two international agreements concerning CSR: the first one of them is the Declaration of Santiago (2013) where Mexico, through the Bilateral Cooperation between the EU and the CELAC, basically promised to realize efforts about the legislation concerning the CSR, as well as in the elaboration of a National Action Plan aligned with the recommendations about CSR that are already contemplated in the majority of the European Union States.The NAPs Draft, according to the Work Group guided by the Ministry of the Interior, was going to be be finished in December 2016, but there has been an important delay.The second major agreement signed by the Mexican State is the implementation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises for which there is an operational instance at the national level: the National Contact Point created in 2011.In this context, the present paper aims to analyze the new role of the Mexican Government in the development of CSR and the future implications.

This chapter offers a review of literature on corporate social responsibility in the United States of America and provides examples of institutional and strategic CSR practices. The review examines corporate social responsibility definitions as well as definitions of corporate social responsibility reporting. The review and the discussion highlight that American CSR is a two faceted construct. On one hand it is an informal mechanism for the control of business; on the on hand, it is a mainstream business practice that corporations use to enhance their competitiveness and further their interests.

The concept of CSR is not new for India. It has its footprints in ancient India when CSR was known as social duty or charity. The concept got a more formal prominence during nineties when companies started integrating sustainability concerns into their business goals. This was also a period when Government of India initiated many reforms to liberalize and de-regulate the Indian economy and to integrate it with the global market. These reforms helped Indian economy to grow in many sectors; but soon it was realized that this growth was not all inclusive growth. Despite a booming economy, India performed poorly on many social indicators like poverty, sanitation, employment, health, education, environmental protections etc. Successive governments failed to address these social problems and the need was felt to constructively involve private sector in handling these social issues. In 2013, the Government of India gave a fillip to CSR by passing a landmark legislation making it mandatory for specified big corporations to spend a portion of their profits on the CSR activities or to explain the reasons for not doing the same. Section 135 and Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013 deal with CSR activities of the companies, making it indirectly compulsory for the companies to spend a specified portion of their profits in the social responsibility areas that come in the ambit of the Act. Now the drive for CSR has started coming from regulatory directives. This paper aims to examine the impact of current legislative changes on the CSR practices of large corporations in India. Empirical works in the area for past 10 years (2008–2018) have been analyzed to compare CSR practices of the large companies in pre and post 2013 period. Empirical evidences suggest improvement in CSR spend after enactment of Companies Act, 2013. CSR is no longer limited to charity or philanthropy. It is gradually becoming a way of conducting business in a more socially and environmentally responsible manner.

Multiple studies have concluded that natural products-related industries, such as mining and energy, are particularly vulnerable to environmental concerns. These industries therefore have an obligation to disclose their corporate social responsibility (CSR), especially information related to environmental issues.However, the findings from this study revealed that environmental information was the least disclosed information among annual and sustainability reports for 39 Indonesian listed mining companies between 2016 and 2017. Based on these findings, this study attempted to seek further of the reasoning behind the scarcity of environmental disclosures.Content analysis was applied to calculate the extent of information disclosed within reports. While companies were found to have conducted a substantive amount of CSR activities, environmental information was the least disclosed information. This was compared to other information, such as governance, economy and social disclosures. Further in-depth interviews with CSR-related functions of the company resulted in several insights. First, natural products-related companies faced difficulties in calculating environmental figures. Second, as one of the most highly-scrutinised industries, natural products-related companies feared the potential backlash from non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Third, all natural products-related companies are obliged to participate in in annual environmental rating evaluation by the Indonesian government, called PROPER. Therefore, information pertaining to the evaluation by PROPER are considered sufficient, and, as a result, companies are hesitant to disclose more information.The findings of this study could provide various insights into companiesCompanies ’ practicePractices of CSR disclosuresDisclosure Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disclosure . While a substantial amount of existing studies have discussed topics related to the most disclosed sustainability information, this study focuses on the opposite. ScholarsScholars may find an added benefitBenefits by analysing both sides of the spectrum. Additionally, this study may also provide a better understanding on the increasing gap between the extent of reporting companies disclose, and their reality in practice.

After years of economic stagnation, Japan is currently experiencing what may be its longest period of economic expansion in the post war era. However, the impact of this economic growth is unlike that of previous periods. Despite record corporate profits and dividend payments, the level of average wage income has not grown, and increasing taxes and prices have caused household buying power to decline. Faced with corporations offshoring jobs to save costs, a polarization in living standards, and a mood of anxiety regarding the future, the role, responsibility and social expectations of business has become the subject of heated debate. This chapter will examine three concepts—responsibility, accountability and resilience—that are being reconceptualized in the course of this debate, and four major initiatives undertaken by government and industrial associations that characterize efforts being made to reframe the social expectation of firms and redefine what it means to be a responsible business in Japan.

The chapter examines the current status of CSR practices in Nepal encompassing four critical issues: (1) awareness and perception of stakeholders (customers and employees) towards the CSR practices of firms; (2) corporate understanding and general CSR practices of Nepali firms; (3) the regulatory and government policy regime towards promoting responsible business; and (4) current status of university syllabi on CSR education.The interface between business and society has been typical in Nepal, a relatively small (48th big country in the world), land-locked but resourceful nation situated in South Asia, with the population of 28.98 million; it is a least developed country (LDC) with developing business sector.Based on the available CSR study, which is relatively under-researched in Nepal, the paper synthesises the findings under the four critical areas. First, customer awareness of CSR practices of their sellers is on gradual rise, and the buyers even make it a point to base their buying decisions on how well the firms have discharged their social responsibilities while employees perceive their employers’ CSR performance as a factor to influence their work attitude, job satisfaction and commitment. Second, ambiguity about the CSR definition and domains is prevalent in the corporate sector, and philanthropic CSR is still dominant on all other domains. The lukewarm response of businesses to the business codes of conduct highlights the prevalence of ‘who will bell the cat’ syndrome, despite high rhetoric of the business leaders.Third, through the new regulatory provisions, Nepal government has made a policy shift to make CSR activities mandatory rather than voluntary, as Nepal now straddles now between the voluntary and compulsory CSR regimes. Finally, among the eight universities in the country, Nepal Open University and Tribhuvan University have offered full-fledged, exclusive CSR modules in both bachelors and masters programmes of the Management stream while other varsities have just lagged behind. Yet, there is enough room to improve the pedagogy and develop teaching faculty.

The chapter addresses a key gap in the contemporary agenda on ‘corporate responsibility’ or ‘corporate social responsibility’ by looking at the functional role of government in this arrangement. It provides a basis to assess this portent by bringing to the fore the crucial role that governments ought to play, signifying that this ought to be of an equal measure, if not more, in the whole responsibility arrangement. The chapter argues that in the face of mounting criticisms of corporations as to their expected commitments to societies, the emphasis seems to have been lost on governments to provide a just, eco-friendly and sustainable governance for its citizens.

Shipbreaking is an important industry for many developing countries such as Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Shipbreaking is the process of dismantling an obsolete vessel’s structure for scrapping or disposal. It involves a wide range of activities: from removing all the gear and equipment that are on the ships to cutting down and recycling the ship’s structure. Even though the shipbreaking industry contributes significantly to local employment and supplies materials to local industries, management practices at the yards are very poor—dominated by labour intensive practices, high rates of death and injuries, and subject to violations of international guidelines that were created by the industry. The practices of the shipbreaking industry are slowly reaching the global media coverage that is appropriate for such violations. Yet the publicity related to shipbreaking is poor in comparison to other cases (such as the textile industry in Bangladesh). Despite all these negative social impacts, ship owners are largely disinterested. In this chapter, we aim to provide a conceptual analysis of CSR in Bangladesh whilst focusing on the shipbreaking industry; specifically, we use Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) methodology. The chapter scrutinizes the industry at a global level and provides more detail by focusing on the case of Bangladesh. The overall aim is to map the social impact of the industry using S-LCA in terms of working conditions, occupational health and safety standards, accidents, child labour, and treatment and compensation of workers. The study uses a qualitative approach and analyses the social impact based on secondary data, such as media coverage, NGO reports and statistics from the shipbreaking industry. In doing so, it provides a conceptual background for future field work in the industry.

More than a year after the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) during the UN Summit in 2015, in which the European Union was a major driver of this process, the implementation of the UN SDGs progresses, however, rather slowly. The reflection paper on the Future of the EU Finances, issued in June 2017, does neither mention the UN SDGs in the foreword, nor insists on the necessity to implement them swiftly. More recent EU policy documents and draft papers of the so-called “EU multi-stakeholder process” voice a promising and more stringent alignment of EU policies with the SDGs. Particularly the finance sector and the EU budget could be leveraged to drive the European Union and the rest of the world towards the sustainable development path adopted in 2015. Fortunately, Mrs. Von der Leyen, new president of the Commission since December 2019, has asked each Commissioner to ensure the delivery of the UN SDGs within its policy area. It is therefore timely to reflect on how to deal with the EU budget in this context now, since the negotiations of the new EU Multiannual Financial Framework—post 2020 (MFF) are currently under negotiation. Out of the approximately EUR 1000 billion of the EU budget, we can assume that less than 40% is spent explicitly with the aim to achieve the UN SDGs. We therefore suggest a complete reorientation of the entire EU finances towards the implementation of the UN SDGs, or in other words, towards a more sustainable financial framework of the European Union in which financial support will only be granted when there is compliance with a given set of sustainability criteria, and when the activity can be connected to a given UN SDG. Some work and in-depth reflections in this sense are already being considered, both from relevant EU institutions and from other stakeholders, as will be shown below. Whereas latest news from the international finance sector discloses that the sustainable investment bond returns finally equal conventional ones, much more remains to be done to prompt the turnaround towards a sustainable economy. We will present recommendations on how this can be achieved. Most prominently, we advocate for an ambitious two step approach to align 70% of the EU Budget to the UN SDGs by 2025 and 100% by 2030.

The term sustainability in environmental context or in terms of planet Earth came into our serious consciousness in the late 1980s as a result of the world acclaimed Brundtland Report (1987) of the World Commission on Environment and Development. This was after Rachel Carson’s book of 1962 on the excessive use of pesticides in agriculture and the Stockholm Conference on the Environment of 1972. The term and all that it’s about has become indispensable in all we do when it comes to the future survival of this great planet of ours. This chapter explores sustainability in global terms. It explains what the term means from its many dimensions, what all global citizens—corporate and individuals need to do to ensure that both current and future generations of all inhabitants of our planet live comfortably during their respective era on earth. It also takes a look at sustainability of the oceans and their importance in the livelihood and survival of the citizens of our blue planet. The chapter also delves into the two sets of UN goals—the 8 MDGs 2015 and the 17 SDGs 2030 from their sustainability perspectives. It concludes by looking at the future of sustainable practices and actions which all citizens of planet earth must continue to take.