Corporate citizenship in Australia : some ups, some downs

Issues of corporate citizenship and corporate social responsibility, and more recently triple-bottom-line thinking, have been gradually climbing higher on the agenda of corporate Australia in the last couple of years. This paper reports on the results of a major survey of corporate citizenship of the top corporates in Australia recently completed by the Corporate Citizenship Research Unit, Deakin University. The most significant finding was that, while there is a great deal of understanding of, and aspirations towards, effective corporate citizenship in corporate Australia, there is a general lack of fit between wanting to do it and actually doing it so that it is seen to be core business.

Corporate citizenship : some perspectives from Australian CEOs

Without CEO sign-off and vision, it is unlikely that corporate citizenship will be either embedded into core business in a company, or have any staying power in that company. This paper reports on this, and other views, of leading CEOs of top Australian companies and NCOs, providing a unique insight into the way that many business and civil-society leaders in Australia engage with corporate citizenship policy and practice in their respective organisations. What is emerging in Australia is the beginnings of an answer that sees corporate citizenship as more than just activities, more than a set of protocols, and more than a set of reporting accountabilities. It is all of these. But it is also being seen, though somewhat nervously by some, as a vehicle for cultural and organisational behavioural change.

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.

Relevance of corporate citizenship

"Editorial"