Development-Oriented CSR: Responsible Businesses Building Positive Change in Developing Countries

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While there has been some increased scholarship on CSR in developing countries, and new insights into the cultural and local specifics of CSR engagement, there is need for additional research that can inform a more nuanced and sophisticated research agenda that links to public policy and development goals in more substantive ways. Various authors have highlighted a core challenge pertaining to how to move CSR beyond philanthropy, rhetoric, legitimization, imagery, and public relations in the developing world to substantive engagement that addresses engrained social problems (e.g. poverty, education, unemployment) and that has developmental impact and implications. Building on a series of efforts to explore a development-oriented approach to CSR, this paper symposium showcases five papers that explore various facets of the developmental role of CSR, with a particular focus on the question of the promise and potential of CSR to serve as an effective development tool in developing and emerging economies. Understanding Corporations as Political Actors: Implications for Social Development Presenter: Kristin E. Huber; U. of Hamburg Presenter: Dirk Ulrich Gilbert; U. of Hamburg A Responsibility Calculus: Global Dialogue and Local Discourses Presenter: Duane Windsor; Rice U. When Microfinance meets CSR: Bridging the Gap Presenter: Diego B. Marconatto; HEC Montreal Presenter: Luciano Barin Cruz; HEC Montreal Presenter: Eugenio Ávila Pedrozo; U. Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Corporations and the Development Deficit: Is CSR Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem Presenter: Nonita Yap; U. of Guelph The Headquartering Effect in International CSR: Evidence from UN Global Compact Signatories Presenter: Ralf Barkemeyer; U. of Leeds Presenter: Lutz Preuss; U. of London Presenter: Frank Figge; Kedge Business School