CSR in forest industry – Case study of reporting and implementation of social responsibility in three international companies

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become increasingly important topic in forest industries, and other global companies, in recent years. Globalisation, faster information delivery and demand for sustainable development have set new challenges for global companies in their business operations. Also the importance of stakeholder relations, and pressure to become more transparent has increased in the forest industries. Three dimensions of corporate responsibility economic, environmental and social, are often included in the concept of CSR. Global companies mostly claim that these dimensions are equally important. This study analyses CSR in forest industry and has focus on reporting and implementation of social responsibility in three international companies. These case-companies are Stora Enso, SCA and Sappi, and they have different geographical base, product portfolios and therefore present interesting differences about forest industry strategy and CSR. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has created the most known and used reporting framework in CSR reporting. GRI Guidelines have made CSR reporting a uniform function, which can also be measured between companies and different sectors. GRI Guidelines have also made it possible to record and control CSR data in the companies. In recent years the use of GRI Guidelines has increased substantially. Typically CSR reporting on economic and environmental responsibility have been systematic in the global companies and often driven by legistlation and other regulations. However the social responsibility has been less regulated and more difficult to compare. Therefore it has previously been often less focused in the CSR reporting of the global companies. The implementation and use of GRI Guidelines have also increased dialogue on social responsibility issues and stakeholder management in global companies. This study analyses the use of GRI´s framework in the forest industry companies´ CSR reporting. This is a qualitative study and the disclosure of data is empricially analysed using content analysis. Content analysis has been selected as a method for this study because it makes it possible to use different sources of information. The data of this study consists of existing academic literature of CSR, sustainability reports of thecase-companies during 2005-2009, and the semi-structured interviews with company representatives. Different sources provide the possibility to look at specific subject from more than one viewpoint. The results of the study show that all case-companies have relatively common themes in their CSR disclosure, and the differences rise mainly from their product-portfolios, and geographic base. Social impacts to local communities, in the CSR of the companies, were mainly dominated by issues concerning creating wealth to the society and impacting communities through creation of work. The comparability of the CSR reporting, and especially social indicators increased significally from 2007 onwards in all case-companies. Even though the companies claim that three dimensions of CSR economic, environmental and social are equally important economic issues and profit improvement still seem to drive most of the operations in the global companies. Many issues that are covered by laws and regulations are still essentially presented as social responsibility in CSR. However often the unwelcome issues in companies like closing operations are covered just briefly, and without adequate explanation. To make social responsibility equally important in the CSR it would demand more emphasis from all the case-companies. A lot of emphasis should be put especially on the detail and extensiveness of the social reponsibility content in the CSR.

The Evolution of Animal Welfare and the 3Rs in Brazil, China, and India

Increasingly, scientific collaborations and contracts cross country borders. The need for assurance that the quality of animal welfare and the caliber of animal research conducted are equivalent among research partners around the globe is of concern to the scientific and laboratory animal medicine communities, the general public, and other key stakeholders. Therefore, global harmonization of animal care and use standards and practices, with the welfare of the animals as a cornerstone, is essential. In the evolving global landscape of enhanced attention to animal welfare, a widely accepted path to achieving this goal is the successful integration of the 3Rs in animal care and use programs. Currently, awareness of the 3Rs, their implementation, and the resulting animal care and use standards and practices vary across countries. This variability has direct effects on the animals used in research and potentially the data generated and may also have secondary effects on the country's ability to be viewed as a global research partner. Here we review the status of implementation of the 3Rs worldwide and focus on 3 countries-Brazil, China and India-with increasing economic influence and an increasing footprint in the biomedical research enterprise.

Evolution of social behaviour in the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata: do we need to look beyond kin selection?

Ropalidia marginata is a primitively eusocial wasp widely distributed in peninsular India. Although solitary females found a small proportion of nests, the vast majority of new nests are founded by small groups of females. In suchmultiple foundress nests, a single dominant female functions as the queen and lays eggs, while the rest function as sterile workers and care for the queen's brood. Previous attempts to understand the evolution of social behaviour and altruism in this species have employed inclusive fitness theory (kin selection) as a guiding framework. Although inclusive fitness theory is quite successful in explaining the high propensity of the wasps to found nests in groups, several features of their social organization suggest that forces other than kin selection may also have played a significant role in the evolution of this species. These features include lowering of genetic relatedness owing to polyandry and serial polygyny, nest foundation by unrelated individuals, acceptance of young non-nest-mates, a combination of well-developed nest-mate recognition and lack of intra-colony kin recognition, a combination of meek and docile queens and a decentralized self-organized work force, long reproductive queues with cryptic heir designates and conflict-free queen succession, all resulting in extreme intra-colony cooperation and inter-colony conflict.

Toward a measure of social-ecological resilience for human communities

The purpose of this essay is to clarify the theoretical understanding of the concept of resilience in order to explore problems surrounding the empirical measurement and application of the concept, as well as to examine strategic examples of empirical measures and policy applications in the literature of several disciplines, fields, and professions. The examination of resilience occurs in two streams: one conceptual and one methodological. At the conceptual level, the focus will be on definitions, distinctions between resilience and related concepts, and the theoretical frameworks that underlie usage of the concept. At the empirical level, the examination of resilience will be centered on the methodological challenges associated with research on resilience as well as previous attempts to operationalize and measure resilience. (PDF contains 4 pages)

Use of social networks and the Internet 2.0 in marketing management by SMEs

Nowadays, enterprises, and especially SMEs, are immersed in a very difficult economic situation. Therefore, they need new and innovative tools to compete in that environment. Integration of the internet 2.0 and social networks in marketing strategies of companies could be the key to success. If social networks are well managed, they can bring a lot to enterprise plans. Moreover, social networks are very attractive from an economic point of view as companies can find most of their customers on it.

O controle social na construção e democratização da política de Assistência Social: o papel dos conselhos e a realidade de um município da Baixada Fluminense

A presente dissertação tem como propósito, a partir do processo de construção e democratização da Política de Assistência Social no Brasil, pós SUAS, analisar o controle social tendo como objeto o Conselho Municipal de Assistência Social do município de Mesquita, na região da Baixada Fluminense / RJ e as condições de trabalho dos Assistentes Sociais nesses espaços. Inicialmente, abordamos a Política de Assistência Social no Brasil, desde a criação da extinta Legião Brasileira de Assistência Social (LBA), até os dias atuais, ressaltando os avanços na parte jurídico-legal-normativa desta política, o que tem se tornado um campo propício e amplo para o mercado de trabalho dos assistentes sociais na contemporaneidade. No debate do controle social na Política de Assistência, destacamos três importantes temáticas: a relação das entidades da sociedade civil com os conselheiros governamentais, nos espaços de representação política, democrática, deliberativa e paritária nos conselhos de assistência social; a participação dos segmentos de usuários dos serviços sócio assistenciais do município de Mesquita e, ainda, as condições em que vem ocorrendo à participação dos assistentes sociais nos espaços de controle social no município, através de relações de trabalho precárias, no que se refere à desregulamentação de direitos sociais trabalhistas dos profissionais. Para o estudo, analisamos as Atas do período de 2011-2012, e realizamos entrevistas semi-estruturadas com os conselheiros governamentais e não governamentais do Conselho Municipal de Assistência Social de Mesquita (CMAS), que atuaram no mesmo período, gestão empossada em Dezembro de 2011, após resultado do processo eleitoral das entidades da sociedade civil do CMAS. Dentre os achados da investigação, a partir do material empírico, mediado pelo pensamento de autores que discutem esta temática e pela legislação destacam-se: a superioridade da Representação Governamental sobre a Representação da Sociedade Civil no CMAS; não monitoramento e fiscalização do saldo orçamentário pelo CMAS / Mesquita; precarização das relações de trabalho na SEMAS / Mesquita; descontinuidade do Programa de Capacitação dos Conselheiros do CMAS / Mesquita; despreparo técnico dos conselheiros para apreciação de prestação de contas no CMAS, com ausência de tempo hábil para análise; manipulação política por parte da representação governamental no CMAS; o poder de influência do governo é maior do que da sociedade civil; necessidade de capacitação técnica, e principalmente capacitação ética e política dos conselheiros governamentais e da sociedade civil; precariedade dos equipamentos públicos dos SEMAS / Mesquita; parca participação dos Usuários dos Serviços Socioassistenciais na esfera do conselho, dentre outros aspectos que serão tratados nesta dissertação. Em suma, estes são as principais conclusões de forma resumida e sintética que abordaremos mais detalhadamente nas considerações finais deste trabalho.

The role of social,economic and cultural factors in the management of satellite lake fisheries in Uganda

The fisheries of small lakes are important for producing fish for local populations not clear the larger lakes.The satelite support important fisheries and other economic activities like fishing water for domestic purpose and tourism besides socio-cultural functions.

Can theories of social capital explain dissenting patterns of engagement in the new Europe?

Korosteleva-Polglase, Elena, 'Can theories of social capital explain dissenting patterns of engagement in the new Europe?', Contemporary Politics, (2006) 12(2) pp.175-191 RAE2008

The Offstage of Democracy: The Problem of Social Dialogue in John Dewey’s and Walter Lippmann’s Writings

The aim of this article is to present and discuss John Dewey’s and Walter Lippmann’s views on the problem of communication in a democratic society, particularly their views on the question of a role of communication in forming social processes. First part of the paper outlines the framework of this problem and its meaning to the question of possibility of democracy. Part two is concerned with anthropological and socio-political considerations: I discuss the Deweyan and the Lippmannian understanding of individual, society, intelligence and democracy. In part three I examine in detail the problem of communication, with special attention given to the questions of the role of communication in forming social processes, the foundations and conditions of communication, the debaters, and a subject matter of a debate as well as the questions of who and what forms this debate and whether we can form it altogether.