Understanding of the concept 'Corporate Social Responsibility' - universal vs. regional level in South America (original) (raw)
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This paper advances our understanding of the existing system of corporate social responsibility (CSR) promotion and advocacy in Latin America and the Caribbean. It begins by contextualizing the relative importance of, and commitment to, corporate social responsibility in the Americas through a cross-national comparison of levels of CSR activity. The paper then elaborates a model,“The CSR System” which theorizes the key relationships and influences on the development of the CSR culture in the region. It defines the major actors working to promote CSR in the hemisphere as multilateral organizations, governments, private firms, private foreign foundations, educational institutions and civil society organizations. The CSR System model shows that considerable impetus behind the promotion of CSR in the region comes from outside Latin America. By understanding how the system of CSR promotion and advocacy works, it is possible to identify the pressure points where the CSR agenda can be best moved forward. The paper advocates strengthening the watchdog capacity of independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in order to work towards a CSR system that not only promotes corporate social responsibility, but also engenders business compliance with its CSR obligations.
2007
Latin America is a region where inequality has created enormous gaps between social groups. Joint endeavors between the haves and the have-nots are a constant challenge. Links between them have always existed: exploitative relations, paternalism, charity, and solidarity. Exclusion and distance between groups have created distrust. It is not surprising that socially responsible activities, aimed at improving life conditions in a surrounding community, are not common corporate practices in Latin America. It is important to explore why business and community decide to work side by side, and the effects of such efforts. Great opportunities lie ahead.
International Affairs, 2006
The May 2005 issue of International Affairs addressed the theme of critical perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the developing world. The aim of this article is to take the debate a step further. Five researchers and practitioners on corporate social responsibility and development in various regions in the developing world—Central America, Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Argentina and India—using knowledge gained by their empirical research, argue that the management-oriented perspective on CSR and development is one-sided. While recognizing that critical approaches to the question have emerged, there is still a need to know which issues should form part of a critical research agenda on CSR and development.In this article the authors seek to fill this gap in order to facilitate a more in-depth investigation of what CSR initiatives can or cannot achieve in relation to improving conditions of workers and communities in the global South. They suggest that a critical research agenda on CSR and development should encompass four areas: a) the relationship between business and poverty reduction; b) the impact of CSR initiatives; c) governance dimensions of CSR; and d) power and participation in CSR. Such an alternative critical approach focuses on society's most vulnerable groups and adopts a ‘people-centred’ perspective as a counterbalance to the dominant ‘business case’ perspective. The authors conclude that this has significant implications for CSR practice.
Estudios Gerenciales
While the instrumental notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) focusses on what is strategic, its normative viewpoint indicates what is appropriate. This work examines how social businesses’ (SBs) employees understand the notion of CSR concerning this conceptual tension. In order to do this, a qualitative content analysis supported by text mining techniques is performed in a micro-finance institution in Colombia. Results imply that employees with a high sense of belonging tend to endorse their organizations’ CSR orientation. Also, this work identifies two distinct clusters of SB’s employees based on their notion of CSR: a sizeable instrumental group and a small normative one. This contributes to a better understanding of the CSR field by visualizing the conflict/complementarity of individual perspectives.
Ad-Minister, 2017
Los países latinoamericanos son ricos en recursos naturales. En este orden de ideas la industria extractiva de la región es importante a nivel mundial. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la presencia de las dimensiones de la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa (RSC) en las estrategias de las principales empresas extractivas en América Latina incluidas en el ranking “Las 500 mayores empresas de América Latina” de la revista América Economía. Para alcanzar este objetivo se utilizó una técnica cualitativa de análisis de contenido usando como fuentes de datos las páginas corporativas. Además una matriz de 13 dimensiones de RSC fue desarrollada para guiar esta investigación. Fueron identificadas 76 empresas de la industria extractiva en América Latina que operan únicamente en los sectores petroleros y mineros. Los principales hallazgos sugieren que el total de las compañías consideran al menos dos dimensiones de RSC y las dimensiones tales como desarrollo sustentable y medio ambiente fueron las más mencionadas. Asimismo por país Colombia muestra los más altos porcentajes de presencia de las dimensiones (86.2%). Además, EXXONMOBIL y Carbones el Cerrejón (que opera en Colombia) tienen el 100% de las dimensiones. Como futuras investigaciones es importante analizar el grado en el cuál las dimensiones son realmente cumplidas en la práctica y llevar a cabo estudios comparativos con otras regiones e industrias.
Non-Governmental Organisations and Corporate Social Responsibility in Iberian America
While decades ago CSR acquired much importance on the agenda of the European Union and of some of its member countries, in Iberian America there is little interest among national governments, the business community and universities. Nonetheless, some countries (Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, etc.) have begun developing a corporate social responsibility conscience thanks to the efforts of nongovernmental organisations, frequently supported by international organisations. This work, comprised of five sections, is an assessment of the state of CSR in Iberian America from the perspective of civil society. The first section ponders the diverse scenarios under which CSR is approached by business and the second describes the current state of CSR practice among the different actors in the region. The third and fourth sections emphasise two key aspects absent from CSR culture worldwide but critical for Iberian America: the exclusion of the payment of living wages as a CSR standard and the lack of pre-established and mandatory standards for the accountability of corporations before governments and society, of which the first aspect is discussed in great detail. The last section argues (to some extent) in favour of the strategic value for Iberian America of leveraging the market via consumer pressure on a global scale. These last three aspects are examined in a global context, parting from the premise that the only successful CSR strategy for Iberian America is a global CSR strategy. The authors' global prognosis regarding CSR is that both institutional investors and corporations will gradually conclude that they cannot maintain a zero-sum game ethos for too long if they want to have a future, and they will move to shift their vision from the extremely short-term to a balanced approach in the pursuit of their own sustainability. In this way, relative to Iberian America, if the problems caused by the impact of corporate activity are to be addressed, Iberian America's organised civil societies must mobilise with urgency to include, in the pursuit of a truly sustainable global CSR, the elements that are of keen interest for the region. ------------------------ This paper constitutes an updated and unabridged research work prepared in June 2004 to be edited and published as a chapter in: Jose Allouche (author/editor), Corporate Social Responsibility, Volume 2, Performances and Stakeholders, United Kingdom, October 2006, Palgrave Macmillan/European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). Because of the long period between the date of delivery and the date of publication, some of the data have been updated when appropriate.
The paper argues that the emerging norms on corporate social responsibility (CSR) can be theorised as a constructivist regime, specifically a subset of private authority regimes - a transnational private legitimacy regime. The purpose of this regime is the transnational legitimation of globalised private accumulation strategies. It hypothesises that CSR acts as a framework of principles, norms and practices that enable communication, negotiation and contestation between civil society organisations (CSOs) and transnational corporations about the social impact of foreign investment. The regime inadvertently transforms the terrain on which businesses interact with other actors from one of power (where business was clearly dominant) to a terrain of (at least partial) legitimacy. This implies that actors that control ‘legitimacy resources’, such as CSOs, should see their negotiating power increase vis-à-vis businesses. The paper examines these conjectures through a case study of CSR promotion and advocacy in Latin America.
Corporate social responsibility practices at brazilian firms
Revista de Administração de Empresas, 2014
Prácticas de responsabilidad social corporativa en empresas brasileñas ABSTRACT Corporate Social Responsibility practices have been on the rise in recent years in firms all over the world. Brazil, as one of the most important countries emerging on the international scene, is no exception to this, with more and more firms taking up these practices. The present study focuses on analyzing the corporate social responsibility practices that Brazilian companies engage into. The sample used is comprised of 500 firms grouped by geographical area; the theoretical framework is based on stakeholder and institutional theories; and the technique used for the analysis is the biplot, more specifically the HJ Biplot and cluster analysis. From the results obtained it is possible to infer that the CSR variables corresponding to environmental practices are more closely linked to companies located in the northern areas of Brazil. Social and community practices are related to companies primarily in the southern and northeastern regions of the country.