Corporate Social Responsibility Issues Research Articles

Evaluating the factors considered for procurement of raw material in food supply chain using Delphi-AHP methodology a case study of potato chips processing company in India

Procurement of raw material plays a very critical role in a supply chain. In the era where organisations are searching for cost saving innovative ideas due to the increasing cost pressures, the procurement function provides an opportunity to these organisations to remain competitive. Procurement of raw materials in a food supply chain has to face the problems like shortage of raw material, quality, lack of continuous supply of seasonal raw material, inadequately trained labour force, costly imported packing material, infrastructure and technological deficiencies. This demands that the food industry needs to manage the risk/cost trade-off without disregarding freshness, sustainability and corporate social responsibility issues. This paper presents a case study of a food processing plant in India manufacturing potato chips, with potato as the main raw material. The objective of this paper is to identify and evaluate the important criteria that are considered while procuring the raw material in a food supply chain. Delphi technique and analytical hierarchical process (AHP) were used for exploring and ranking the criteria. Quality of the raw material, supplying capacity of the supplier-quantity and price were identified as the most important purchasing criteria.

ПЕРСОНАЛЬНАЯ И КОРПОРАТИВНАЯ СОЦИАЛЬНАЯ ОТВЕТСТВЕННОСТЬ В СИСТЕМЕ ЗДРАВООХРАНЕНИЯ

The article analyzes the international experience of social management, with the establishment of an optimal understanding of social responsibility in the personal (for a particular person) and corporate (for the organization) sense, the problematic issues of corporate and personal social responsibility in the health care system are considered. There are examples of state regulation of certain types of social responsibility of health workers in the Republic of Belarus.

ТЕОРЕТИКО-МЕТОДОЛОГІЧНЕ ОБГРУНТУВАННЯ ШЛЯХІВ РОЗВИТКУ КОРПОРАТИВНОЇ СОЦІАЛЬНОЇ ВІДПОВІДАЛЬНОСТІ, ЯК ФАКТОРА КОНКУРЕНТОСПРОМОЖНОСТІ

UDC 304.44; JEL Classification: M14The purpose of the work is a theoretical and methodological substantiation of the ways of developing corporate social responsibility as a factor of competitiveness. The subject of the work are scientific approaches and economic instruments of corporate social responsibility as a factor of competitiveness. Methodology of research. To achieve this purpose, the following general scientific and special methods and techniques of research were used: systematic and comparative analysis of scientific literature based on methods of comparison, classification, systematization, and generalization; generalization of the analysis results and logical generation of conclusions. Findings. It was determined that the issue of corporate social responsibility as a factor of competitiveness in an economic downturn is important, relevant and new from the point of view of scientific research and practical application. The impact of corporate social responsibility on competitiveness at the micro level in an economic downturn has not been thoroughly analyzed. Originality. The ways of development of corporate social responsibility as a factor of competitiveness were disclosed. They are: studying the structure and patterns of development of the concept of corporate social responsibility; the disclosure of the estimated assumptions of corporate social responsibility as a factor of competitiveness; conducting a practical analysis of methods for assessing the factors of competitiveness of corporate social responsibility and the possibilities of its application at the micro level; formulation of the methodological principles of corporate social responsibility as a factor of competitiveness for evaluation at the micro level. Practical value. Studies have shown that there are gaps in the direction of research and, on this basis, ways of developing corporate social responsibility, as a factor of competitiveness, for its application at the micro level were formulated.

An international approach of the relationship between board attributes and the disclosure of corporate social responsibility issues

AbstractFirms interested in being perceived by all stakeholders and society as drivers of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, especially regarding CSR reporting, should have boards of directors that defend not only shareholder interests but also all stakeholders' needs. Thus, we expect that efficient boards, particularly if well‐structured, will impact on CSR disclosure. As a result, in this paper, we examine the effect of board composition, particularly board size, board independence, board gender diversity, chief executive officer (CEO) duality, and CSR board committee, on CSR reporting. Using a sample of international firms, concretely 13,178 observations belonging to 39 countries, we hypothesize that all these attributes positively affect CSR disclosure, except board independence and CEO duality, which are expected to impact negatively. These hypotheses are theoretically supported by the agency and stakeholder perspectives. Our findings support all the hypotheses, except that of CEO duality, and therefore, we conclude that board characteristics such as board size, board gender diversity, and CSR board committees encourage the disclosure of CSR matters, whereas board independence discourages this reporting. Contrary to our predictions, CEO duality has a positive effect on CSR reporting.

Impact of corporate social responsibility on bank’s corporate image

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the corporate image in the banking sector. The focus of the study is on four main components of CSR, which are economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic.Design/methodology/approachA model was used in this study to show the impact of different CSR’s factors on corporate image; (240) banks customers were approached using a questionnaire, where (155) responses were received and (144) valid responses entered for analysis.FindingsThe findings revealed that customers perceive CSR activities as a main element when dealing with banks. The corporate image is strengthened when banks adopt such activities, and positive and significant relationships were statistically found between CSR activities and corporate image. These activities differ in importance as perceived by banks’ customers.Research limitations/implicationsEnlarging sample size, involving more stakeholders such as employees and managers, and replicating the study in other countries would enrich the findings.Practical implicationsBanks are advised to consider the study factors in their activities and act as champions of CSR for the welfare of the society to strengthen their corporate image.Originality/valueMany studies have discussed the issue of CSR, but very few are found in the Middle East, particularly in Bahrain, and in the banking sector. This paper calls for more investigation in this area for a better understanding of CSR activities and their effects on the corporate image.

Understanding User-Generated Content and Customer Engagement on Facebook Business Pages

With the growth and prevalence of social media platforms, many companies have been using them to engage with customers and encourage user-generated content about their products and services. In this paper, we analyze user-generated posts from the Facebook business pages of multiple companies across several industries to understand what users post on Facebook business pages and how post valence and content characteristics affect engagement, measured as the number of likes and comments received by a post. Our analysis demonstrates that negative posts are significantly more prevalent than positive posts, and negative posts also tend to attract more likes and more comments than positive posts. Importantly, engagement depends not only on the valence of a post but also on the specific post content. We observe three types of customer complaints respectively related to product and service quality, money issues, and corporate social responsibility issues. We show that social complaints receive more likes, but fewer comments, than quality or money complaints. Our findings reveal the practical challenges of managing Facebook business pages as a new channel of interacting with customers, and they highlight the need to explore effective response strategies to manage customer complaints and other service requests on social media.

In limbo between state and corporate responsibility: Transport infrastructure in the oil village Verkhnemarkovo, Irkutskaya Oblast in Russia

The village of Verkhnemarkovo is located in a remote oil region in the Irkutskaya Oblast in the Siberian part of the Russian Federation. Active socio-economic development of the village began with the discovery of an oil field near settlement in the middle of the 20th century. In the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union the once thriving oil village faced massive out migration and also decay of the once good transportation infrastructure. This article shows the changes of the provision of transport infrastructure and mobility practices in this village of around 2500 people. It raises the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and that of the state for care and maintenance of roads in particular. The results highlight the state of the village and its inhabitants being in a limbo between the two main bodies who are expected to be responsible for facilitation of good transport infrastructure: the state and the companies operating in the region.

Technical assistance, inspection regime, and corporate social responsibility performance: A behavioural perspective

Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues in suppliers can affect the reputation of buyers or even result in supply chain disruption. Thus, buyer and supplier firms are urged to comply with CSR codes in a coordinated manner. In other words, multinational buyers are expected to extend CSR practices to their suppliers in emerging countries. This is particularly crucial when suppliers' CSR performance is screened under a regulatory agency's inspection regime. To this end, this study formulates an analytical model to understand the effects of buying firms' supportive schemes, i.e., technical assistance programmes, on their partner suppliers' CSR performance. Specifically, we develop a multi-period behavioural model to simulate a system consisting of multiple buyers and suppliers where the government regularly conducts inspections on suppliers' CSR performance. The results from the agent-based simulation analysis shed light on (1) how the dyadic risk preferences of suppliers and buyers affect suppliers' CSR performance; (2) how the gap between the perceived and actual CSR levels in a supplier interacts with the regulatory agency's tactics to influence suppliers' CSR performance; (3) the extent to which the overall suppliers' CSR performance improvement is attributable to the buyers' technical assistance programmes under the regulatory agency's inspection regime. This research contributes to the socially responsible supply chain management literature and provides innovative managerial insights for policy makers (e.g., CSR regulators) to promote CSR practices among suppliers.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of Innovative Pharmaceutical Corporations. The Case of BIOGEN

The aim of this paper is to discuss the common features and specificity of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices of innovative transnational corporations (TNCs) acting in the pharmaceutical industry. The innovativeness of pharmaceutical firms is understood here as their ability to make a breakthrough in the treatment of rare, incurable diseases. The examination of the issue leads to the conclusion that the specificity of CSR in this industry is related to the contradiction between the economic and social/ethical aspects of innovation processes in this field. A key issue of CSR in the innovative pharmaceutical industry seems to be the pricing of drugs, especially orphan and ultra‑orphan drugs, resulting in patients from less developed countries having limited access to life‑saving medicines or those that improve the quality of life. Corporations use their monopolistic position to set extremely high prices. However, without the market/marketing exclusivity offered to pharmaceutical firms by the law, orphan drugs would probably not be developed, produced and commercialized. Traditional CSR practices (corporate philanthropy, community and neighborhood programs, volunteerism etc.) cannot be treated as sufficient ‘compensation’ for the high prices of medicines. Real, true CSR in the innovative pharmaceutical industry requires either abandoning or reducing extreme monopolistic privileges and offering medicines for rare diseases at lower prices.

Multinational enterprises perceptions of the national corporate social responsibility priority issues in South Africa

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the perceptions of multinational enterprises (MNEs) representing four key economic sectors in South Africa regarding what the most important national corporate social responsibility (CSR) priority issues are for the country. This paper also investigates whether MNEs in South Africa are overwhelmed by the number of CSR issues in the country.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative research approach was used. Thirty eight semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with CSR practitioners at MNEs in the banking and finance, manufacturing, mining and services sectors. Data were analysed by means of qualitative content analysis.FindingsThe majority of participants in this study indicated that the top three CSR priorities for South Africa in order of importance are education, training and skills development; building and developing local communities and health care and wellness. Another significant finding was that MNEs indicated that there are too many CSR issues in South Africa.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of this study highlight the need for South Africa to develop a national CSR index which clearly articulates the top CSR priorities of the country. This study explored the views of MNEs from four economic sectors of the South African economy. This study can be expanded to incorporate other sectors.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study provide guidelines to MNEs and firms about the key CSR priorities for the country.Originality/valueAs far as can be ascertained, this is the first study that seeks to identify the key national CSR priority issues for South Africa from the perspective of MNEs operating in the country. This study determines whether MNEs in South Africa are overwhelmed by the number of CSR issues that they are confronted with.

Determinants of Corporate Environmental Disclosure from an Asian Perspective

The present study attempts to address the inconclusive outcomes of the existing literature on the determinants of corporate environmental disclosure. It reports that country level factors like national cultural dimensions, political rights, civil liberties, freedom of expression and the prevailing legal system can explain the corporate environmental disclosure decisions in that particular country. Existing studies on the determinants of corporate environmental disclosure mostly focus on accounting based and stock market based variables at the firm level and report fairly inconclusive outcomes. Literature on the determinants of corporate environmental disclosure using country level variables is limited but more consistent. The country level cultural, political and legal phenomena have good potential for extensive research in explaining corporate governance and corporate social responsibility issues.

Responsabilidad Social y Educación en Honduras

Las relaciones entre la educación y la responsabilidad social son cada día evidentes derivando en al menos tres vínculos; La responsabilidad social ejecutada por las empresas por su participación en el desarrollo comunitario específicamente en el sector educación, es decir las inversiones socialmente responsables que la empresa privada puede realizar a favor de la educación. La educación y formación de Directores de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial, lo cual es incluyente del desarrollo de propuestas en donde el tema de responsabilidad social empresarial se tome de forma transversal o se generen espacios educativos propios, así como el desarrollo de carreras específicos asociada al tema. La responsabilidad social de los centros educativos en participar en procesos de potenciación del progreso social, económico, ambiental e institucional, como un ciudadano organizativo más, bajo un esquema de territorios socialmente responsables en donde participen todos por el bien común.En este trabajo se resumen las experiencias de Honduras, en los tres vínculos estableciendo el grado de avance existente hasta el momento sobre esta temática reflexionando sobre todo sobre las perspectivas que existen de que la vinculación entre educación y responsabilidad social se consolide en el Sistema Educativo Nacional, con ello se aporta en especial al dialogo que desde la academia y especialmente desde la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional Francisco Morazán debe de impulsarse, congruente con sus prioridades y líneas de investigación institucionales, en donde la Responsabilidad Social y Educación ha quedado establecida desde el año 2010.

Corporate Social Responsibility in Nigeria: Realities, Modalities and Possibilities

This conceptual paper provides a non-revisionist but contextual perspective on the largely controversial issue of corporate social responsibility. It expounds the dimensions of CSR by leveraging on specific global benchmarks whilst highlighting gaps applicable to Nigeria’s business environment. In furtherance of this objective, the essence of the global oil economy is noted, conceptualizations are proffered and contextual issues are discussed. The paper argues that a flexible and innovative model is plausible as a platform to elevate the essence of CSR on multiple levels. It emphasizes the importance of harmonizing the political, business, environmental and legal aspects of CSR to promote corporate sustainability, broad based economic development and community wellbeing.

How to improve corporate social responsibility in the era of artificial intelligence?

Corporate social responsibility is one of the most important competitiveness in the sustainable development of a company. In recent years, various issues of the company, such as Facebook’s influence on people’s emotions through controlling information flow, and Google’s self-driving cars causing personal injuries, have caused concern on the issue of corporate social responsibility in the era of artificial intelligence. Based on this, it has become very necessary to explore how to improve corporate social responsibility in artificial intelligence. Corporate social responsibility have a duty to manage conflicts of interest, including current and long-term interests, local interests and overall interests, anthropocentrism and sustainable development, etc. We propose to strengthen the construction of corporate social responsibility in the era of artificial intelligence from several perspectives, such as enhancing public awareness of social responsibility, transcending the dimension of time and space, thinking about corporate social responsibility, focusing on sustainable development, and rethinking corporate behavior standards.

KOBİ'lerin Kurumsal Sosyal Sorumluluk Rolü: Türkiye ve Polonya Örneği

The importance of socially responsible practices in the area of: market, natural environment, society, employees is growing. Business is more and more involved in the implementation of sustainable development goals. The aim of the article is to present the results of research on the issue of corporate social responsibility in the field of entrepreneurship of small and medium enterprises in Poland and Turkey. The detailed objectives of the conducted research are: - the level of knowledge of entrepreneurs from the SME sector on CSR, - recognition of the approach (differences and similarities) to the implementation of CSR solutions in the surveyed enterprises. The research covered enterprises of the SME sector in Poland in the Masovian voivodeship and Turkey in the Mediterranean region. The article is a contribution to further research on the relations of CSR strategies conditioned by the historical and cultural differences of both countries. In the SME sector, the strategy is still little known. Entrepreneurs are more and more often implementing CSR solutions specific to their strategies, thus benefiting from specific benefits. Factors such as: strengthening the brand's reputation, attracting and retaining talented employees, increasing efficiency, meeting society's expectations, protecting the natural environment, creating new business opportunities are highlighted. as: increased trust in the company on the market, energy saving, employment of better quality human capital, improvement of economic results.

Nichtfinanzielle Berichterstattungspflicht – Literaturzusammenfassung und Mögliche Entwicklungen in Deutschland

The last years have seen an upsurge in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting regulation around the world. Based on a summary of the literature, this paper provides an overview over possible consequences of CSR reporting regulation and derives potential future developments brought by the introduction of the European CSR Directive in Germany. The results suggest that mandatory CSR reporting leads to a shift in companies’ reporting behaviour. In particular, more companies report on CSR issues and overall quantity of reporting is increased. However, this does not go along with an increase in reporting quality. Moreover, results indicate that consequences of companies’ changed reporting behaviour (i. e., second-order consequences) are under-researched. Lastly, this paper suggests that German companies will, subsequent to the CSR Directive, increase the number of topics covered in their CSR reports, possibly at the expense of overall reporting quality. It remains an interesting question for future researchers to examine the extent to which mandatory CSR reporting may bring about other consequences, on a company-, investor- or society-level.

The association between corporate social responsibility reporting and firm value for South African firms

Background: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure is widespread among the largest companies in South Africa due to the listing requirements of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). These companies have also increasingly pursued external assurance of their CSR disclosures in recent years. The increased regulation of CSR disclosure and the increased rate of obtaining assurance of these disclosures motivated us to perform our study.Aim: To examine the association between CSR reporting, including both CSR disclosure and CSR assurance, and firm value of large South African companies.Setting: The JSE listing requirements place South Africa, the setting for our study, at the forefront of corporate governance and CSR reporting.Method: Tobin’s Q is used as a measure of firm value. Three measures of CSR disclosure and three of CSR assurance are used in this study. The measures are based on data collected by Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) International on the CSR reporting practices of large South African companies. The sample period for this study coincides with the sample period covered in the KPMG surveys conducted during 2008, 2011 and 2013.Results: No significant association is found between CSR disclosure and firm value. However, a significant negative association is found between CSR assurance and firm value. Additional analysis found that the negative association between firm value and CSR assurance is more significant for companies that are not listed on the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) index.Conclusion: The results found between CSR disclosure and firm value may suggest that firm value is unaffected by CSR disclosures. Taken together, the findings on CSR assurance and firm value and the additional analysis may suggest that in South Africa managers with negative CSR issues are more likely to obtain assurance on their CSR disclosure. The findings may be of interest to regulators when considering current and future disclosure and assurance requirements for CSR reporting in South Africa, as well as other parts of the world, shareholders when considering investment options, and managers when considering the benefit of certain CSR reporting practices.

Developing Sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility Based on Islamic Perspective

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues are constantly evolving nowadays since social and ethical issues have received public attention and high regulatory pressure regarding this issue. Malang Regency has implemented the CSR since long time ago. Every company in Malang Regency has obligated to implement CSR program. The potential of CSR in Malang Regency itself is very big when viewed from the total number of companies that reaches 1,350 companies both in small and large scale. There are also 76 sugar factories in Indonesia and most of them are located in East Java, including Kebon agung which located in Malang Regency. This study can be classified as narrative qualitative research with Kebon Agung as a research objective. This study used formal interviews, and participant observation as data collected method. This study concluded that Economic motives considered as the most appealing CSR program from both the company and the CSR target group perspective. Economic development is impossible without a good education. Education is indispensable to economic development. The financial business incentives of CSR program should follow by providing good education, training, and mentoring in purpose to achieve its effectiveness. To get the better knowledge, the education, training, and mentoring program should collaborate with the regulator, academicians, and professional.

Prioritization of drivers of corporate social responsibility in the footwear industry in an emerging economy: A fuzzy AHP approach

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is gaining popularity among researchers and practitioners due to its strong influence on the global market. Recently, the decision-makers of footwear companies have given special attention on CSR issues due to increased stakeholders' awareness on social and environmental issues. In this study, the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) has been used to identify and evaluate drivers to CSR-based sourcing in the context of the footwear industry of Bangladesh. A total of 20 drivers are identified through a literature review and experts’ opinions. The results indicate that financial drivers are paramount toward CSR-based sourcing into existing supply chains followed by environmental drivers. This study offers some managerial implications that may assist companies to incorporate CSR-based sourcing into existing supply chains. The identified drivers may guide footwear companies in strategic planning to create a sustainable business structure in the competitive market.

The Dynamics of Legitimacy in Multi-stakeholder Initiatives: Insights from the RSPO case

Multi-stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs) fill an important role in governing Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) issues but need to be legitimate if they are to be effective in influencing business practices. To address this relevant issue Mena and Palazzo (Bus Ethics Quarterly, 22(3): 527-56, (2012)) conceptualized MSI legitimacy identifying its dimensions (input and output), related criteria and how these can be operationalized. Based on an in-depth study of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) this research provides a refinement to Mena and Palazzo’s (2012) framework. We propose two new criteria of MSI legitimacy; participation and adoption. We also refine two existing criteria by identifying that transparency consists of inward and outward transparency and that for efficacy, ideological and practical objectives are necessary. Moreover the paper adds a dynamic dimension to the framework, illustrating interdependences between and across input and output legitimacy criteria. Results highlight that to maintain legitimacy, MSIs should set both practical and ideological objectives, manage inward and outward communication and ensure both member participation in decision-making and substantial adoption of standards and rules. We also highlight the interdependencies between legitimacy criteria noting that a weakness in one criterion is likely to impact other facets of MSI legitimacy.