Corporate Social Responsibility och lönsamhet : Finns det ett samband mellan företags rapporterade CSR-arbete och dess lönsamhet?

Bakgrund: Vilken roll har företag i vårt samhälle? Vilken funktion ska de fylla? Är företagens funktion att vara vinstmaximerande och enbart se till sitt eget bästa, eller har de ett större ansvar och skyldigheter mot samhället? Dessa frågor har diskuterats under lång tid och bilden av företag och företagande förändras kontinuerligt i takt med att samhället förändras. Tankarna om att företag har ett socialt ansvar, vid sidan av det ekonomiska, har spridit sig över världen och frågor som har dykt upp är om det finns någon motsättning mellan socialt ansvar och företagens vinstintresse. Eller kan det vara så att socialt ansvarstagande kan leda till ökad lönsamhet? Syfte: Att genom en empirisk undersökning ge en förklaring om svenska noterade bolags rapporterade arbete med CSR har en positiv inverkan på dess lönsamhet. Metod: För att uppnå syftet valdes en deduktiv kvantitativ metod för att kunna göra en statistisk generalisering. Det rapporterade CSR-arbetet operationaliseras med hjälp av Folksams rapport "Index för ansvarsfullt företagande" och lönsamhet mäts via avkastning på totalt kapital (ROA) samt vinstmarginal. Analysen genomförs med hjälp av multipla regressionsanalyser. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att företags rapporterade CSR-arbete har en positiv inverkan på svenska noterade företags lönsamhet, både mätt i avkastning på totalt kapital (ROA) och vinstmarginal.

Corporate Social Responsibility no sector bancário

Vivemos num mundo globalizado onde as exigências são diversas e constantemente presentes. É impossível analisar a área social, económica ou ambiental de forma isolada. A visão que relaciona o mundo empresarial com a sociedade e que lhe reconhece obrigações e responsabilidades para com a mesma não é nova e tem vindo a obter uma importância e visibilidade crescentes. O conceito corporate social responsibility (CSR) tem sido objecto de grande enfoque, sobretudo desde os anos cinquenta do século passado. Todavia, este conceito não tem permanecido inalterado com o passar do tempo. Desde a referida década até à actualidade verifica-se um desenvolvimento notório da definição de CSR, das suas vertentes, do binómio mundo empresarial e social e de alguns conceitos conexos como sejam corporate citizenship, business ethics e sustainability. Actualmente a maioria da doutrina que versa sobre o tema aceita, de forma pacífica, que o mundo empresarial não se pode fechar sobre si próprio pretendendo alcançar ganhos e visibilidade demitindo-se da responsabilidade para com a sociedade onde se encontra inserido. Compreende-se que a interligação entre a esfera económica, social e ambiental permite às empresas diversos benefícios, nomeadamente a viabilização de projectos a longo prazo, prestígio, notoriedade e a vantagem competitiva face às suas concorrentes. O objectivo do presente trabalho é demonstrar a evolução do conceito de CSR, nas suas várias vertentes, o impacto e os benefícios decorrentes das actuações empresarias compatíveis com este conceito e verificar, no que ao sector bancário respeita, se os clientes destas instituições conhecem os projectos sociais, pelas mesmas desenvolvidos e se a realização destes projectos possuem impacto na relação cliente/banco.

Economics of Ethical and Prosocial Behavior: Experiments on Social Responsibility, Ignorance, and Cheating

In this thesis I experimentally investigate prosocial and ethical behavior in economic interactions. The thesis consists of three experimental research papers that have a broad range of research questions on social responsibility, ignorance and cheating. With these experiments I aim to better understand when and why people behave ethically and/or prosocially and which consequences it has on their own and other players’ payoffs, and on overall efficiency. The results from the three experimental studies suggest that (i) donations to charity by employees are rewarded in an experimental setting, and the effect is driven by reciprocal concerns; (ii) there is a significant fraction of people who decide not to know about negative consequences of own actions, and the sorting of social agents of a low type into ignorance drives self-interested behavior of ignorant agents; and (iii) if the possibility of being exposed as a liar is small, the tendency to lie increases with incentives, indicating that some people have positive and finite costs of lying. Furthermore, when the participants lie, they lie to the full extent, which suggests that the intrinsic cost of lying is fixed.

Jerónimo Martins and internal social responsibility : a case study on employee awareness

Mestrado em Ciências Empresariais

Corporate social responsibility reporting in the mining sector of Tanzania:(Lack of) government regulatory controls and NGO activism

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ongoing debate on governance, accountability, transparency and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the mining sector of a developing country context. It examines the reporting practices of the two largest transnational gold-mining companies in Tanzania in order to draw attention to the role played by local government regulations and advocacy and campaigning by nationally organised non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with respect to promoting corporate social reporting practices. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes a political economy perspective to consider the serious implications of the neo-liberal ideologies of the global capitalist economy, as manifested in Tanzania’s regulatory framework and in NGO activism, for the corporate disclosure, accountability and responsibility of transnational companies (TNCs). A qualitative field case study methodology is adopted to locate the largely unfamiliar issues of CSR in the Tanzanian mining sector within a more familiar literature on social accounting. Data for the case study were obtained from interviews and from analysis of documents such as annual reports, social responsibility reports, newspapers, NGO reports and other publicly available documents. Findings – Analysis of interviews, press clips and NGO reports draws attention to social and environmental problems in the Tanzanian mining sector, which are arguably linked to the manifestation of the broader crisis of neo-liberal agendas. While these issues have serious impacts on local populations in the mining areas, they often remain invisible in mining companies’ social disclosures. Increasing evidence of social and environmental ills raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the regulatory frameworks, as well as the roles played by NGOs and other pressure groups in Tanzania. Practical implications – By empowering local NGOs through educational, capacity building, technological and other support, NGOs’ advocacy, campaigning and networking with other civil society groups can play a pivotal role in encouraging corporations, especially TNCs, to adopt more socially and environmentally responsible business practices and to adhere to international and local standards, which in turn may help to improve the lives of many poor people living in developing countries in general, and Tanzania in particular. Originality/value – This paper contributes insights from gold-mining activities in Tanzania to the existing literature on CSR in the mining sector. It also contributes to political economy theory by locating CSR reporting within the socio-political and regulatory context in which mining operations take place in Tanzania. It is argued that, for CSR reporting to be effective, robust regulations and enforcement and stronger political pressure must be put in place.

Sustainable initiatives focused on social responsibility and regional development: a study of the leader of the petrochemical industry

The present work will investigate the issue of environmental responsibility actions in the ABC Paulista region, of a leading company in the petrochemical sector. In this context, the problem has been to see how the leading company in the domestic petrochemical industry conducts itself relative to the concept of sustainability and what the consequences of these initiatives in the ABC Paulista are. Thus, the objectives are to identify these consequences and practices with regard to regional development in areas where the leader of the national petrochemical company has significant performance, with highlights on economic, social and environmental impacts. The present investigation is justified by the fact that the company is among the world leaders in the production of biopolymers. The methodology used was qualitative descriptive because this methodological procedure makes it possible to observe and analyze the facts relating to social responsibility initiatives undertaken by the company under study without manipulating them , in establishing correlations on perception of other stakeholders before the actions addressed in this research. Therefore, the results obtained indicate that environmental responsibility initiatives taken by the company satisfy the paradigm of Sustainability and Social Responsibility, in the promotion of regional development in its geographic area.

Total Quality Management and Corporate Social Responsibility. Literature review. The case of Nabeiro Delta Cafés Group

The relationship between the themes of Total Quality Management (TQM) and Social Responsibility (CSR) through the concepts, approaches and models of excellence is a reality of sustainable and stable companies. Being organizations, people, act correctly and rightly do in society go through a quality management and social responsibility thereof. It is based on these two philosophies (Total Quality Management and Corporate Social Responsibility), which developed this literature review work, essentially based on a relational analysis in two papers, namely: "TQM and CSR Nexus" by Ghobadian et al. (2007) and "The Corporate Social Responsibility Audit Within the Quality Management Framework," de Kok et al. (2001) and applied to an organizational situation in concrete: the Nabeiro Delta Cafés Group - SGPS, SA.

Incentives, Sustainability, and Law: The relationship between executive pay regulation and corporate social responsibility

What is the relationship between executive pay regulation and corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Currently, CSR is neither sufficiently included in economic research on executive pay, nor is pay regulation considered as a potential instrument in the growing body of CSR legislation. The successful proliferation of CSR in business practice and the attention policymakers and legislators now pay to it, however, have raised the importance of answering these questions. Thus, this blind spot in corporate governance—the relationship between compensation, CSR, and law—is the topic of this thesis. The dissertation approaches these issues in two subsequent research question: first, the role of executive pay regulation as an institutional determinant of CSR engagement is identified. From the results of this, the second research question arises: should legislators promote CSR engagement and—if so—how? Lastly, a case study is conducted to map how the influence of index funds as an important driver of CSR in corporate governance should be accommodated in the design of CSR legislation. The research project shows that pay regulation is part of the institutional determinants of CSR and, depending on its design, can incentivise or discourage different forms of CSR engagement. As a form of private self-regulation, CSR is closely interconnected with legal rules and the result of complex underlying drivers inside and outside the firm. The study develops a differentiation of CSR activities to accommodate this complexity, which is applied in an analysis of pay regulation. Together, these inquiries form a comprehensive picture of the ways in which pay regulation sets incentives for CSR engagement. Finally, the thesis shows how CSR-oriented pay regulation is consistent with the conventional goals of corporate governance and eventually provides a prospect for the integration of CSR and corporate law in general.

La base para la construcción de una sociedad más justa, fundamentada en el papel que juegan las empresas a la luz de la norma ISO 26.000. ¿Qué está sucediendo dentro de la multinacional Merck?

Dentro del marco empresarial, uno de los conceptos más utilizados en los últimos años ha sido el de responsabilidad social, aunque muchas compañías entienden el concepto, no saben cómo ponerlo en práctica, en las próximas páginas, usted querido lector sabrá qué debe hacer para hacer que su compañía sea reconocida como socialmente responsable.

Impacto del rol de la British American Tobacco Colombia sobre el bienestar colectivo

El presente documento ofrece un estudio del Proyecto de Tabaco Orgánico, el cual busca mejorar las condiciones de vida de un grupo particular de personas, por medio de un modelo de negocio sustentable y replicable, con unas características únicas, ya que el cultivo de tabaco orgánico es un proyecto pionero en el mundo entero. Para el desarrollo de este trabajo, se uso la metodología sugerida por docentes de la Universidad del Rosario (François Contreras, Juan Bernardo Gaitán y Carlos Méndez) quienes proponen hacer un estudio de caso que permita evidenciar el impacto que tiene la British American Tobacco Colombia en una determinada población con su modelo de gestión que involucra los siguientes componentes: Responsabilidad Social Empresarial, Negocios inclusivos, modelo de negocio sustentable y replicable, retos administrativos, logísticos y de liderazgo. Sin embargo, al ser un proyecto que no ha culminado, se hace necesario compararlo con el modelo más exitoso cercano conocido en Colombia, que se llama Lo Social Paga, realizado por la empresa Indupalma Ltda. Lo cual nos permitirá construir prospecciones y generar conclusiones sobre el buen desarrollo del Proyecto y su futuro.

How enterprise 2,0 firms take advantage of emergent social software platforms to manage knowledge

This research aims to provide a better understanding on how firms stimulate knowledge sharing through the utilization of collaboration tools, in particular Emergent Social Software Platforms (ESSPs). It focuses on the distinctive applications of ESSPs and on the initiatives contributing to maximize its advantages. In the first part of the research, I have itemized all types of existing collaboration tools and classify them in different categories according to their capabilities, objectives and according to their faculty for promoting knowledge sharing. In the second part, and based on an exploratory case study at Cisco Systems, I have identified the main applications of an existing enterprise social software platform named Webex Social. By combining a qualitative and quantitative approach, as well as combining data collected from survey’s results and from the analysis of the company’s documents, I am expecting to maximize the outcome of this investigation and reduce the risk of bias. Although effects cannot be universalized based on one single case study, some utilization patterns have been underlined from the data collected and potential trends in managing knowledge have been observed. The results of the research have also enabled identifying most of the constraints experienced by the users of the firm’s social software platform. Utterly, this research should provide a primary framework for firms planning to create or implement a social software platform and for firms willing to increase adoption levels and to promote the overall participation of users. It highlights the common traps that should be avoided by developers when designing a social software platform and the capabilities that it should inherently carry to support an effective knowledge management strategy.