Defining corporate citizenship : evidence from Australia

This study reports the results of a survey of the attitudes to corporate citizenship and practices of corporate citizenship of 93 of the largest private and publicly listed corporations in Australia. The results suggest there was considerable hesitation in positioning corporate citizenship as a proactive, long term, internal culture process. Instead, corporate emphasis was generally on short-term community activities. Also, there was little variation in these results when respondents were classified by industry, international involvement and legal structure. Clearly, significant links have yet to be made by corporate Australia to connect the financial, social and environmental bottom lines.

Corporate sustainability : greenwash or a path to sustainable capitalism?

The problems of unsustainable development and the increased-awareness of corporate power in the global era have contributed to an agenda of corporate citizenship. This thesis explores the meanings and practices that fall under the banner of the triple bottom line of corporate citizenship through forty-two in-depth interviews with representatives from the corporate sector and NGO sector (including trade unions) in Australia. This purposive sample includes a specific range of corporate industries and NGO types, all of which have involvement with various areas of sustainability. Interviewees described their feelings and experiences in relation to the concept of the triple bottom line, the potential and limitations of this type of sustainability and the purpose and impacts of partnerships between NGOs and the corporate sector. On the basis of this research, this thesis argues that corporate citizenship is at best, a set of initiatives for making minor adjustments to the way companies perform their day-to-day operations and at worst, a program for improving corporate image rather than performance and for shifting the agenda of sustainable development toward corporate interests. While radical steps are required to achieve a sustainable society and environment, the terms of corporate citizenship offer very limited opportunities for change. The self-regulatory and market based model of citizenship does not challenge the impact of consumerism or the legitimacy of particular industry types and their products, except where threats are perceived to the longevity of the companies involved. Furthermore, while the exploitation of the environment and society has occurred as a result of corporate self-interest, corporate citizenship is justified on the same basis. The self-interest rationale and the tyranny of the economic bottom line in particular, substantially limit the fields of responsibility that can be included in the citizenship paradigm. While there are undoubtedly some well-intentioned corporate representatives who are working toward attaining a more sustainable corporate culture, the discourse is primarily used to shift the sustainable development agenda toward corporate paradigms and interests.

Social/environmental reporting by Shell

This thesis uses textual analysis to examine how language use by global multinationals in social/environmental reports contributes to maintaining economically-based understandings of corporate responsibility. The findings suggest that such reporting does not just discharge accountability for social/environmental impacts; it also has implications for how these responsibilities are understood and accepted.

Reflecting on contemporary accounting : teaching and learning social and critical perspectives

This paper provides a case description and analysis of an effort to enact accounting education change. The study reports on an attempt to renew the social and ethical worth of accounting education and practice in the post-Enron context of increased interest in how accounting may contribute to social responsibility and sustainability. The paper considers the organisation, aims, and content of a newly-developed unit on social and critical perspectives on accounting, and key elements of the pedagogy utilised. These include team teaching, the employment of research literature rather than a prescribed textbook, an expanded conception of accounting and accounting “knowledge”, the adoption of educational goals that encompass preparing students for economic and social life and for democratic participation, and a view that sees ethics, the environment, and society as central to accounting. It is concluded that accounting educational change must encompass the content and practice of classroom activity, but it also requires change to the self-consciousness of all actors involved. Explicit inclusion of the social, critical, environmental and ethical dimensions of accounting in our teaching and learning programs provides an avenue for academics to individually and collectively make a meaningful contribution.

Vested interests in addiction research and policy alcohol industry use of social aspect public relations organizations against preventative health measures

Aim It has been proposed that alcohol industry ‘social aspects/public relations’ organizations (SAPROs) serve the agenda of lending credibility to industry claims of corporate responsibility while promoting ineffective industry-friendly interventions (such as school-based education or TV advertising campaigns) and creating doubt about interventions which have a strong evidence base (such as higher taxes on alcoholic beverages). This paper investigated whether submissions to Australia's National Preventative Health Taskforce (NPHT) from alcohol industry bodies regarding the Australian SAPRO, Drinkwise, have used this organization to demonstrate corporate responsibility while promoting industry-friendly interventions.

Method Submissions to the Australian National Preventative Health Taskforce (NPHT) discussion paper Australia, the healthiest country by 2020 (n = 375) were examined to identify those with primary alcohol content. A thematic analysis of the resulting 33 submissions was conducted to determine which organization, institution or individual discussed Drinkwise.

Setting Australia.

Findings Nine of the 33 submissions discussed Drinkwise; all were submitted by the alcohol industry or its affiliates. Every industry submission referred to Drinkwise either as providing evidence of social responsibility or by suggesting the industry-friendly actions of Drinkwise as alternatives to those recommended by the NPHT report.

Conclusions Drinkwise has been used by the alcohol industry to create an impression of social responsibility while promoting interventions that maintain profits and campaigning against effective interventions such as higher taxes on alcohol.

The raising of corporate sponsorship: a behavioral study

Research was conducted in order to define a "buyer behavior" process for the purchase of sponsorship at a corporate level. A series of interviews was carried out with a number of organizations that are currently involved in sponsorship of varying kinds. A consideration was made to include a balance of sponsorship types-small and large-as well as arts, sports, and events, although no attempt was made to identify how the process differs across sponsorship type. Our results show that while sponsorship and fundraising are flipsides of the same coin from the nonprofit sponsorship-seeker's perspective, the sponsorship provider sees the act of sponsorship as a commercial profit-making venture. This is a conundrum that has wide-reaching consequences for the sector. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Programa de responsabilidade social na Valesul Alumínio: uma receita de sucesso

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar e comprovar que um programa de responsabilidade social, quando estabelecido com critério e adequação emum ambiente empresarial, traz benefícios evidentes para a organização e ajuda efetivamente a comunidade atingida. Para concretizar esseargumento, foi selecionada a empresa Valesul Alumínio, que viveu uma experiência singular no seu processo de implantação de ações sociais.Inicialmente, são explicitados alguns conceitos teóricos sobre o assunto para entender o que o mercado e o meio acadêmico pensam a respeito daatuação socialmente responsável no mundo corporativo. Em um segundo momento, são apresentados o histórico da empresa citadae relatados os estágios de implementação do programa social denominado Valesul Voluntária.Por último, o argumento que deu origem ao trabalho é comprovado com fatos e dados, tendo como pano de fundo o programa social da empresa e oseu desenvolvimento nos quatro anos de existência.

Contribuições da metodologia service-learning para o ensino de responsabilidade social em cursos de graduação em administração

A temática da Responsabilidade Social está em grande discussão na atualidade, fazendo a sociedade repensar o papel das empresas e exigindo delas mais responsabilidade e envolvimento com o seu desenvolvimento. No Brasil, a discussão de questões relativas à Responsabilidade Social ganhou espaço apenas mais recentemente, em seguida ao processo de industrialização e vinda de grandes empresas para o país. Dessa forma, vem à tona uma discussão sobre o preparo dos profissionais de Administração brasileiros para trabalhar a Responsabilidade Social nas empresas e sobre a inclusão desta temática nos cursos de graduação em Administração. O desafio dessas instituições é abordar a Responsabilidade Social e a ética dentro de seus currículos, conjugando a formação acadêmica, técnica e ética dos alunos. As metodologias de ensino tradicionais levam a um esclarecimento teórico sobre o tema, no entanto não preparam os alunos para lidar com as questões de responsabilidade social na prática. Este estudo propôs o service-learning como uma metodologia de abordagem prática para o ensino de Responsabilidade Social, permitindo a aproximação entre instituições de ensino superior e comunidades, em uma experiência de aprendizado e ganho para ambas. Foram analisados neste estudo dois casos de instituições de ensino brasileiras que desenvolvem programas junto a comunidades, com o objetivo de conhecer suas práticas e estudar as possíveis contribuições que o uso da metodologia service-learning poderia trazer ao contexto educacional brasileiro, em busca da formação de profissionais mais sensibilizados às questões sociais.

A política empresarial: a responsabilidade social como mecanismo de segurança

Neste ensaio, tomamos como problema as ações da política empresarial no Brasil, em específico a política de responsabilidade social das empresas, por entender que existe nessa iniciativa um status de inovação tecnológica que precisa ser interrogado, pois se inscreve no interior de uma racionalidade que objetiva o governo das populações e tem como instrumento técnico, para realizar esse fim, uma sociedade controlada por mecanismos de segurança. Para tanto, partimos da análise de três procedimentos efetivados por alguns projetos sociais desenvolvidos por empresas brasileiras - a pesquisa científica, o protagonismo juvenil e a metodologia participativa. A referência de análise são textos de diversas naturezas, veiculados por esses projetos e disponíveis ao acesso público.

A Responsabilidade social das empresas e os projetos sociais: filantropia ou emancipação social?

Pós-graduação em Serviço Social - FCHS

Gestão das Fundações e responsabilidade social

Pós-graduação em Serviço Social - FCHS

The Road to Poverty Reduction: Corporate Governance and Female Participation in MFIs

1.Microfinance Industry – Context of Analysis. This paper is an introduction to the microfinance industry. It serves as a context of analysis, for the empirical settings and basis for building the theoretical argument for the thesis. 2.Women in Microfinance Institutions: The Road to Poverty Reduction and Gender Equality? One of the unique aspects of microfinance institutions is their focus on outreach, i.e. their ability to reach the poor. This paper explores whether the presence of women in microfinance institutions is associated with improved outreach. Building on prior research that shows that women tend to improve financial performance and social responsibility, we examine an original dataset of 226 microfinance institutions. The empirical results suggest that the presence of a female CEO, female managers and female loan officers is directly related to improved outreach, while the presence of women board members is not. 3. Women in Microfinance Institutions: Is There a Trade-Off Between Outreach and Sustainability? Abstract This paper’s contribution to the understanding of microfinance is two-fold. First, while it has been shown that female CEOs in MFIs increase financial performance, it will be argued that female managers, female loan officers and female board members will do the same. Secondly, having previously shown that having a female presence in management in MFIs improves social performance the outreach, it will be argued that having females in the MFIs’ management will not lead to a trade-off between outreach and sustainability. These findings are based on an original data set of 226 MFIs. Statistical analysis demonstrates that a weak relationship between female managers and female loan officers vis-à-vis financial performance, but female board members do not. The trade-off between outreach and sustainability can be avoided with the appointment of females to the MFIs’ management positions, but the same cannot be concluded for female board members.

Stigma, social relationship and HIV testing in the workplace : evidence from South Africa

This paper explores whether a worker's unwillingness to make his/her HIV-positive status or test-taking experience known by colleagues impedes his/her decision to test for HIV. After analyzing the new survey data provided by employees working for a large multinational enterprise in South Africa (2009-2010), this study finds that this unwillingness is negatively associated with test-taking (at the enterprise's on-site clinic) of workers who are extensively networked with close colleagues (i.e., know their phone numbers). It appears that the expected disutility associated with HIV/AIDS-related stigma prohibits test uptake. When introducing HIV counseling and testing programs into a corporate sector, providing all workers with an excuse to test in the workplace and/or inducing them to privately test outside the workplace may be effective in encouraging the uptake.