Governance, social responsibility and the banking sector

Banks in both the developed and undeveloped world remain at the core of financial systems and have the unique ability to write cheques against themselves. In light of the essential culture of credit at the heart of banking operations then the structures of corporate governance should especially reflect the supervision and management of risks and credit. This means that committee and management structures as well as staffing commitments revolve around credit and other risks.

Corporate social responsibility: some key theoretical issues and concepts for new ways of doing business

This paper brings together some of the main scholarly sources and thinkers of the last fifty years or so, who have been influential in the corporate social responsibility discussions which have become important, once again, as we begin the 21st century. The author creates a narrative ofkey social, economic and political concepts and themes, which are rationalised (in ways that others might not) from what is often a very disparate, diverse and not always connected discussion on corporate social responsibility. This is not an objective history, charting the developments chronologically, but is the bringing together ofsome serious thinking in the field of corporate social responsibility in a way which has considerable resonance JOT both the development of public policy and business practice in corporate citizenship at the beginning ofthe 21st century.

Corporate social responsibility: why business should act responsibly and be accountable

This paper identifies drivers which are pressurising organisations to adopt corporate social responsibility and produce corporate social reports. The authors discuss what constitutes a good report, some of the problems with current reporting practices, benefits to organisations which produce corporate social reports and the costs to those which do not.

Corporate social responsibility in Asia

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'Publics' or 'stakeholders'? Performing social responsibility through stakeholder software

Government and corporate organizations increasingly seek the support of the communities where they operate and represent themselves as good corporate citizens with a sense of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). These organizations seek to create and sustain dialogue with their many and varied ‘stakeholders’ and reject traditional ‘PR’ approaches that regard communication as a way to manipulate ‘target publics’. Some of these organizations use a form of ‘stakeholder software’ to guide and support their efforts to embrace CSR in their operations and this article examines two such software packages. It sets their use and the broader drive for CSR in the context of a diminishing trust in traditional institutions and a rise in new, extra-parliamentary forms of activism (new activism); and it examines stakeholder software’s potential contribution to a values-based approach to PR training in universities and colleges.

Financial reporting for environmental and social responsibility: a normative strategic concept

Corporate responsibility demands that firms address environmental and social values in their firms' policy and key performance indicators. These are integrated through strategic planning and require firms to merge the long-term environmental and social values with short-term economic objectives and performance measures. Each firm's strategy will differ. This paper provides a normative reporting concept to connect the financial implications associated with long-term planning for environmental and social values, with short-term accounting reports. Reporting variants adapted from total cost assessment, life cycle costing and variable costing are integrated to offer upstream information based on a product segment view.

Pricing in the museum sector : the need to balance social responsibility and organisational viability

An essential component of marketing strategy is pricing. Pricing in museums, however, is problematic as issues beyond cost recovery or surplus, such as social responsibilities, need to be considered. This area of marketing is under researched. The aim of this study is to address the research gap by synthesising the literature on pricing strategy in the museum sector. The study found that there are a number of strategies being advocated with regard to pricing in the museum sector in the literature, each representing various perspectives of museology. A research agenda was proposed to assist marketers in the museum sector to meet their organisational needs, whilst balancing their social responsibilities.

Environmental and social responsibility: a normative financial reporting concept

The inclusion of environmental and social values in a firm’s policy and key performance indicators can enhance its reputation and create wealth for both the firm and its investors. Social values and associated activities are initially integrated with financial resources through the strategic plan, which requires firms to merge the longer term environmental and social values with short term economic objectives and performance measures. Strategies will differ between individual corporations. This paper provides a normative reporting concept which connects the financial implications associated with longer term planning for environmental and social values, with short term accounting reports. Reporting variants adapted from total cost assessment, life cycle costing, variable costing are integrated to offer opportunities to present both past and predicted information based on a product segment view.

Corporate social responsibility of small businesses: a developing country perspective

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has emerged as an important concept for developing countries in recent years. This paper investigates the issues of CSR relating to small businesses that have emerged as a result of market-based reforms in developing countries, where the compliance of voluntary standards, code of conduct and regulations are limited. The paper argues that prevalence of corruption, lack of rule based governance, resource constraints for effective capacity building on the part of the state and lack of awareness have created a weak and unethical corporate culture leading to low levels of CSR in developing countries. Using Bangladesh agriculture sector as an exemplar, this paper investigates how small businesses trading in agricultural inputs with no brand capital and low public visibility are behaving in a socially irresponsible way, in an environment of inadequate regulatory sanctions and compliance by selling contaminated inputs to farmers who are mostly poor and not even aware of their rights. The low levels of CSR is undermining and also threatening the sustainability of the positive impact of the market-based reforms undertaken in this sector. The paper proposes that integrated governance linking state, private sector and civil society can promote good governance and better CSR relating to small businesses .