Good Corporate Social Responsibility Research Articles

A comparative study of corporate social responsibility in Bangladesh and Pakistan

AbstractMaking a contribution to sustainable development through good corporate social responsibility presents businesses with a challenge, particularly in developing countries. This paper measures the sensitivity to corporate social responsibility amongst businesses operating in Bangladesh and Pakistan through a review of written policies of both listed local firms and multinational corporations operating there. We use the Global Compact supplemented by relevant parts of the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Guidelines to benchmark companies and countries. Significant differences are found between local listed companies and multinational corporations. However, all companies are seen to be failing to engage with many aspects of corporate social responsibility related to sustainable development. Specific deficiencies relate to anti‐corruption, gender equality, child labor, community giving and the formal representation of workers. Few differences are found between the approaches taken by companies in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Given the development needs of the region we point to businesses being unwilling or unable to adopt sufficiently robust corporate social responsibility and point to a role for both government and civil society. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Stocks Prices and Tax Policy

We model a capital market in which some proportion of investors get utility from owning firms that undertake spending on corporate social responsibility (CSR). We also assume different categories of firms: those with good CSR fundamentals and those with poor CSR fundamentals. We develop an equilibrium in which investors' CSR considerations influence their financial portfolio decisions, influencing stock prices and corporate CSR spending decisions. An important determinant of the equilibrium is the proportion of altruistic investors in the market. Besides providing a model with reasonable empirical predictions, we also examine optimal tax policy questions, looking to maximize total individual donations plus corporate CSR spending less the tax rebates given for such spending.

Rethinking directors' duties in changing global markets

PurposeThis paper aims to examine whether directors duties, as they are typically presented in Anglo‐American corporations law, remain appropriate and relevant given recent corporate governance developments and trends in global product and capital markets.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs a comparative approach, examining aspects of corporate governance developments in the UK, the US and Australia.FindingsThe paper finds that product and capital markets are increasingly placing a premium on good corporate social responsibility and hence, Anglo‐American corporations law should be reformed to clarify directors' capacity to address broader stakeholder concerns.Originality/valueThe paper provides a comprehensive summary of important currents in contemporary corporate governance and provides a market‐driven justification for changing corporations law.

Corporate social responsibility and policy making: what role does communication play?

AbstractCommunication is of central importance for business and public authorities to make substantial progress on the sustainability ladder. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is about the contribution of business to sustainability, and stakeholder theory is an integral concept of CSR. The literature regularly associates stakeholder management with good CSR schemes and practices. Proactive companies are assumed to interact at a certain level with their affected stakeholders through their business activities. It is quite common to find studies that show a direct connection between stakeholder management and business success, especially with regard to financial success. However, this study, based on an in‐depth case study on Campina, the second largest dairy company in the Netherlands, has its primary focus not on direct financial implications of stakeholder management, but on the impact proactive stakeholder management has on the interaction between companies and public authorities. The study argues that CSR pro‐active companies are better positioned in their sectors, especially when relating with public authorities, and that such companies are better able to influence the policy‐making process compared with their competitors. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The CSR-Quality Trade-Off: When can Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Ability Compensate Each Other?

This paper investigates under what conditions a good corporate social responsibility (CSR) can compensate for a relatively poor corporate ability (CA) (quality), and vice versa. The authors conducted an experiment among business administration students, in which information about a financial services company’s CA and CSR was provided. Participants indicated their preferences for the company’s products, stocks, and jobs. The results show that for stock and job preferences, a poor CA can be compensated by a good CSR. For product preferences, a poor CA could not be compensated by a good CSR, at least when people thought that CA is personally relevant to them. Furthermore, a poor CSR could be compensated by a good CA for product, stocks, and job preferences.

The strategy of reputation

Costs and differentiation have long been considered to be sources of competitive advantage in firms. Reputation is also considered to be a potential source of competitive advantage in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) literature, which seeks to promote social responsibility in the business community. In this paper we argue that many firms aspire towards good company-wide CSR, and that poor CSR practices can damage reputation and competitiveness. However, our analysis, based upon the Faulkner and Bowman ‘customer matrix’, shows that although many firms have every economic incentive to take CSR issues seriously, commodity producers do not. For almost every other type of manufacture identified in the customer matrix, cost or differentiation advantages can be seen to ultimately accrue from the pursuit of CSR policy. On the other hand, for commodity producers there are no obvious cost or differentiation advantages to be gained by developing and maintaining a good reputation. We suggest that these are the circumstances in which it is necessary to resort to legislation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Challenges for a Bancassurance Company

This contribution originates from the ideas and discussions during the third edition of the Montepaschi Vita Forum on “The Paradigms of Value. Towards a Good Governance in Financial and Insurance Services: the challenge of ethics, transparency and trust”, which took place in Rome, 15 October 2004 and was organized by the MPS insurance pole in partnership with The Geneva Association and Ania. The Forum series are prompted by the awareness of the critical role and nature of the “paradigms of value” topic in the present competitive context of financial services. Value-creation mechanisms are key elements of financial and insurance services, both in the interests of shareholders and, in broader terms, of all stakeholders. The theme of the third Montepaschi Vita Forum was encouraged by the current uncertainty of the financial scenario, in which the rule-based system and the reliability and accountability of several interlocutors is being questioned. The basic assumption is that good corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are gradually advancing from a “philanthropic” variant of corporate capitalism to strategic approaches for regaining the trust of clients and society in general. Their role as risk (and also social) managers means that insurers have to work out different models and mechanisms for good corporate governance and CSR in view of a new state of play among the various stakeholders involved. The narrow borderline between legally binding requirements and self-regulatory initiatives has to be borne in mind when addressing topics such as good governance and CSR. A cultural change is involved, transforming a “regulatory compliance” approach into a “regulatory plus” approach. This article focuses on the challenges that MPV, as an insurance company belonging to a banking group with a well-defined CSR strategy, faces in identifying and implementing coherent CSR initiatives and measures.