Chapter 2

LITERATURE
REVIEW

 
 
CSR has been an issue of great research interest and has drawn attention of
academicians and researchers from various fields towards it. The concept of CSR in
theory and practice falls within the realms of various fields of study like sociology,
social work, economics public administration, environmental studies and academics,
work and literature in this field has been with varied understanding and interpretations.
The diverse and prolific contributions from the various fields has not only enriched but
has also led to controversies and confusions. As Votaw and Sethi (1973) put it, “the
term (social responsibility) is a brilliant one, its something but not always the same
thing, to everybody. To some it means socially responsible behavior in an ethical sense;
to still others the meaning transmitted is that of ‘responsible for’ in a casual mode;
many simply equate it with ‘charitable contributions’, some take it to mean socially
conscious or ‘aware’, many of those who embrace it most fervently see it as a mere
synonym for ‘legitimacy’, in the context of ‘belonging’ or being proper or valid, a few
see it as a sort of fiduciary duty imposing higher standards of behavior on businessmen
at large”.

It has been debated upon heavily in the present times especially since the early 20th
century, when with the onset of industrialization, the impact of business activity on
society and environment assumed new dimensions. This has happened because large
corporations came into existence which had the power and the resources to affect the
surrounding considerably. In ancient times commercial activity and philanthropic deeds
went hand in hand, examples of which are found in abundance all over the world.
Therefore, post-industrialization, discussions about the social responsibility of business
evolved into what we recognize as the present day CSR movement.

Evolution of CSR

Business and society have co-existed as perfect complements and supplements to each
other. They have been the cause of growth and progress for one another and the
presence of one facilitates the prosperity of the other. But this closely intertwined
existence of business and society has led to the development of a lot of cause and effect
– a relationship which has seen cataclysmic changes and undergone a lot of dynamism
and evolution over years. There has always been a lot of debate and discussion about

9 
 
deciding the rules for commercial operation and the role society is expected to play. The
legal, administrative and political powers and concerns of the states have constantly
endeavored and desired for a smooth relationship between the two. The concept of
business ethics and fair business practices are the broad reflections of the association
that exists between society and business. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), is a
consequence of the interplay between ‘rights’ and ‘responsibilities’ that exist between
society and a business activity. To understand the evolution of CSR we must
understand what the word company means because CSR as a concept means the
responsibilities which a corporate or companies have towards societies within which
they function or operate. Simply, it is the responsibility of corporate to society. The
etymology of the word company lies in two Latin words, cum and panis, which means
“breaking bread together” (Arndt, 2003). Practically, companies identify their
stakeholder groups (internal and external) and incorporate their needs and values within
the strategic and day-to-day decision-making process (University of Miami, 2007, p. 1).
Therefore since the inception of business activity there have been duties and
responsibilities which companies have been fulfilling. As early as the 1920s,
discussions about the social responsibilities of business had evolved into what could be
recognized as the beginning of the “modern” CSR movement.

Donham B. Wallace, (1929) the Dean of Harvard Business School, commented within
an address delivered at North Western University as follows: Business started long
centuries before the dawn of history, but business as we now know it is new – new in its
broadening scope, new in its social significance. Business has not learned how to handle
these changes, nor does it recognize the magnitude of its responsibilities for the future
of civilization (BRASS Centre, 2007).

Gerde & Wokutch, (1998) in their article state four critical stages of CSR development
and its establishment as an empirically grounded and tested theory. They classify all
earlier literature as the history of the concept with negligible empirical testing. Post
1950’s the stages are “gestation and innovation” in the 1960s, “development and
expansion” in 1972-1979, “institutionalization” in 1980-1987, and “maturity” in 1988-
1996. The basic driving force of research in the gestation and innovation phase was to

10 
 
“describe the situation and perhaps to develop theories of the dimensions of corporate
social responsibility or the specific relationship between business and society and
between the firm and its employees”. Post 60’s the literature on CSR focuses on theory
testing research with improvisation in methodology.

Rowley and Berman (2000) in their study suggest three categorical periods in the
history of development, though they do not exactly position these periods on a time line
– conceptualization and definition building of the construct; operationalisation of the
definition, primarily focusing on the relationship between CSR and financial
performance (FP), and therefore building of the concept of CSP. This phase is marked
by “contradictory and ambiguous results”; and explanation of the “disappointing”
results of the CSP–FP relationship and solutions to direct future study. In spite of this
progressive perspective, Rowley and Berman (2000) point at some of the problems
surrounding CSP, noting that “CSP research offers an eclectic array of studies that . . .
complicates the process of identifying the boundary conditions of the construct” (p.
398). The writers have also charted out a few recommendations for future research by
suggesting that it should be “theoretically grounded research . . . within narrowly
defined organizational contexts” (p. 415) and attention needs to be paid to
understanding the underlying phenomena rather than building associations and causal
relationships. They conclude optimistically as they see a gradual, yet difficult,
progression in the CSR/CSP literature.

Carroll (1999) and Mohan (2003). These writers have expressed the variegated
properties in CSR literature. Mohan viewed CSR as an empirical concept which has had
various incarnations and therefore varies over time and place. He suggests that the
notion of CSR not only relates to other associated concepts but at times it also competes
with them. Mohan enumerates a list of CSR related terms which are mentioned later.
Similarly, Carroll traces the origin of the present day concept of CSR in the 1950s,
leading to definitional activities in the 1960s and a growth and expansion in its
acceptability in the 1970s. The era of 1980s saw an emphasis on the empirical research
and fewer new definitions came up. Alternative themes and concepts began to mature
like corporate social performance (CSP), stakeholder theory and the theory of business

11 
 
ethics. Through the 1990s, CSR served as the core concept but made way and yielded
scope for transformation into “alternative thematic frameworks” (pp. 268)

Jones and Wicks (1999) and Matten et al. (2003) Jones and Wick suggested an
overtly normative stance in the literature focused upon social issues of management like
Matten et. al view CSR as a foundation stone upon which the modern literature on
business and society rests. They remark that, “much of the seminal work was largely
normative in nature with the main focus being on the definition of the boundaries of
responsibility of business. More recently, certain strains of literature have attempted to
address more pragmatic concerns” (pp 110). They have drawn a distinction between
CSR and the other theoretical concepts concluding to say that the basic difference
between literatures on CSR and other similar areas is the explicit normative feature
which the literature on CSR has and therefore it is related to ethical, religious or moral
point of view.

Bakker, Frank G.A.; Groenewegen, P. and Hond, F.D. (2005). The writers have
made an analysis of the various evolutionary literatures on the concepts of CSR or
corporate social performance. They have treated the two concepts as synonymous and
have raised questions about the direction which CSR research would take as no
consensus about progress has been achieved in the corporate social
responsibility/corporate social performance literature. The writers have analyzed the
three views on this literature - development occurring from conceptual vagueness,
through clarification of central constructs and their relationships, to the testing of
theory—a process supported by increased sophistication in research methods, absence
of any progress due to the inherently normative character of the literature and finally the
progress in the literature on the social responsibilities of business being obscured or
even hampered by the continuing introduction of new constructs. The article explores
which of these three views better describes the evolution of the literature during a
period of 30 years and suggests implications for further research.

12 
 
Meaning and Dimensions of CSR

Dahlsrud, A. (2008). CSR as a business concept has been variedly defined by various
researchers leading to ambiguity and confusion. The writer in this paper has analysed 37
definitions of CSR through content analysis and has developed five dimensions. The
dimensions were determined using frequency counts and the results suggest and large
degree of compatibility between the various definitions. The ambiguity pertaining CSR
is largely in the area of its social understanding than in its definition.

The various definitions which the author considered for analysis are mentioned below:

DEFINITIONS OF CSR
Sr. Source of the Definition Facets
No. Definition

1 Commission of A concept whereby companies integrate Voluntariness

the European social and environmental concerns in their Stakeholder
Communities business operations and in their interaction Social
(2001) with their stakeholders on a voluntary Environmental
basis. Economic

2 World Business The commitment of business to contribute Stakeholder

to sustainable economic development, Social
Council for working with employees, their families, the Economic
Sustainable local community and society at large to
Development improve their quality of life.
(1999)

3 World Business Corporate Social Responsibility is the Voluntariness

continuing commitment by business to Stakeholder
Council for behave ethically and contribute to Social
Sustainable economic development while improving Economic
Development the quality of life of the workforce and
(2000) their families as well as the local
community and society at large.

4 Commission of Corporate social responsibility is Voluntariness

European essentially a concept whereby companies Social
Communities decide voluntarily to contribute to a better Environmental
(2001) society and a cleaner environment.

13 
 
 5 Business for Business decision making linked to ethical Voluntariness
Social values, compliance with legal requirements Stakeholder
Responsibility and respect for people, communities and Social
(2000) the environment. Environmental
Economic

6 Business for Operating a business in a manner that Voluntariness

Social meets or exceeds the ethical, legal, Stakeholder
Responsibility commercial and public expectations that Economic
(2000) society has of business. Social
responsibility is a guiding principle for
every decision made and in every area of a
business.

7 IBLF,(2003) Open and transparent business practices Voluntariness

based on ethical values and respect for Stakeholder
employees, communities and the Social
environment, which will contribute to Environmental
sustainable business success. Economic

8 Khoury et al., Elements of social responsibility include Stakeholder

1999 investment in community outreach, Social
employee relations, creation and Environmental
maintenance of employment, Economic
environmental stewardship and financial
performance.

9 Business for Corporate social responsibility is achieving Voluntariness

Social commercial success in ways that honour Stakeholder
Responsibility ethical values and respect people, Social
(2003) communities and the natural environment. Environmental
Economic

10 Commission of European accountable for its impact on all Voluntariness

the European relevant Communities, 2003 stakeholders. Stakeholder
Communities It is the continuing commitment by Social
(2003) business to behave fairly and responsibly Economic
and contribute to economic development
while improving the quality of life of the
work force and their families as well as of
the local community and society at large.

14 
 
 11 CSRwire, 2003 CSR is defined as the integration of Voluntariness
business operations and values, whereby Stakeholder
the interests of all stakeholders including Economic
investors, customers, employees and the Environmental
environment are reflected in the company’s
policies and actions.

12 Hopkins (1998) Corporate social responsibility is Voluntariness

concerned with treating the stakeholders of Stakeholder
the firm ethically or in a socially Social
responsible manner. Stakeholders exist
both within a firm and outside.
Consequently, behaving socially
responsibly will increase the human
development of stakeholders both within
and outside the corporation.

13 Ethics in Action CSR is a term describing a company’s Stakeholder

Awards (2003) obligation to be accountable to all of its Social
stakeholders in all its operations and Economic
activities. Socially responsible companies Environmental
consider the full scope of their impact on
communities and the environment when
making decisions, balancing the needs of
stakeholders with their need to make a
profit.

14 Jones, 1980 CSR is defined as the notion that Voluntariness

corporations have an obligation to Stakeholder
constituent groups in society other than
stockholders and beyond that prescribed by
law or union contract, indicating that a
stake may go beyond mere ownership.

15 Hopkins, 2003 CSR is concerned with treating the Voluntariness

stakeholders of the firm ethically or in a Economic
responsible manner. ‘Ethically or Social
responsible’ means treating stakeholders in Stakeholder
a manner deemed acceptable in civilized
societies. Social includes economic
responsibility. Stakeholders exist both
within a firm and outside. The wider aim

15 
 
 of social responsibility is to create higher
and higher standards of living, while
preserving the profitability of the
corporation, for peoples both within and
outside the corporation.

16 Marsden, 2001 Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is Social

about the core behaviour of companies and Environmental
the responsibility for their total impact on Economic
the societies in which they operate. CSR is
not an optional add-on nor is it an act of
philanthropy. A socially responsible
corporation is one that runs a profitable
business that takes account of all the
positive and negative environmental, social
and economic effects it has on society.

17 McWilliams and Actions that appear to further some social Voluntariness

Siegel, 2001 good, beyond the interests of the firm and Social
that which is required by law.

18 Ethical At its best, CSR is defined as the Economic

Performance, responsibility of a company for the totality Social
2003 of its impact, with a need to embed Environmental
society’s values into its core operations as Stakeholder
well as into its treatment of its social and
physical environment. Responsibility is
accepted as encompassing a spectrum –
from the running of a profitable business to
the health and safety of staff and the
impact on the societies in which a
company operates.

19 Global Corporate Global corporate social responsibility can Voluntariness

Social be Social Responsibility defined as Stakeholder
Responsibility business practices based on ethical values Social
Policies Project, and respect for workers, communities and Environmental
2003 the environment. Economic

20 Commission of Corporate social responsibility is about Economic

the European companies having responsibilities and Social
Communities, taking actions beyond their legal Environmental

16 
 
 2002 obligations and economic/business aims. Voluntariness
These wider responsibilities cover a range
of areas but are frequently summed up as
social and environmental – where social
means society broadly defined, rather than
simply social policy issues. This can be
summed up as the triple bottom line
approach: i.e. economic, social and
environmental.

21 Pinney, 2001 Corporate social responsibility (CSR) or Social

corporate citizenship can most simply be
defined as a set of management practices
that ensure the company minimizes the
negative impacts of its operations on
society while maximizing its positive
impacts.

22 IndianNGOs.com, Corporate social responsibility is a Stakeholder

2003 business process wherein the institution Social
and the individuals within are sensitive and Environmental
careful about the direct and indirect effect Economic
of their work on internal and external
communities, nature and the outside world.

23 Business for Socially responsible business practices Stakeholder

Social strengthen corporate accountability, Voluntariness
respecting ethical values and in the Social
Responsibility, interests of all stakeholders. Responsible Environmental
2003a business practices respect and preserve the Economic
natural environment. Helping to improve
the quality and opportunities of life, they
empower people and invest in communities
where a business operates.

24 Kilcullen and CSR is the degree of moral obligation that Voluntariness

Kooistra, 1999 may be ascribed to corporations beyond
simple obedience to the laws of the state.

25 Piacentini et al., CSR is the voluntary assumption by Voluntariness

2000 companies of responsibilities beyond
purely economic and legal responsibilities.

17 
 
 26 UK Government, Corporate social responsibility recognizes Economic
2001 that the private sector’s wider commercial Stakeholder
interests require it to manage its impact on Social
society and the environment in the widest Environmental
sense. This requires it to establish an Voluntariness
appropriate dialogue or partnership with
relevant stakeholders, be they employees,
customers, investors, suppliers or
communities. CSR goes beyond legal
obligations, involving voluntary, private
sector-led engagement, which reflects the
priorities and characteristics of each
business, as well as sectoral and local
factors.

27 Woodward- CSR has been defined as a ‘contract’ Stakeholder

Clyde, 1999 between society and business wherein a
community grants a company a license to
operate and in return the matter meets
certain obligations and behaves in an
acceptable manner.

28 Reder, 1994 An all encompassing notion, [corporate] Stakeholder

social responsibility refers to both the way Social
a company conducts its internal operations, Environmental
including the way it treats its work force,
and its impact on the world around it.

29 Lea, 2002 CSR can be roughly defined as the Economic

integration of social and environmental Environmental
concerns in business operations, including Social
dealings with stakeholders. Stakeholder

30 Lea, 2002 CSR is about businesses and other Voluntariness

organizations going beyond the legal Stakeholder
obligations to manage the impact they have Environmental
on the environment and society. In Social
particular, this could include how
organizations interact with their
employees, suppliers, customers and the
communities in which they operate, as well
as the extent they attempt to protect the
environment.

18 
 
 31 Foran, 2001 CSR can be defined as the set of practices Stakeholder
and behaviours that firms adopt towards Social
their labour force, towards the environment Environmental
in which their operations are embedded,
towards authority and towards civil
society.

32 Andersen, 2003 We define corporate social responsibility Stakeholder

broadly to be about extending the Social
immediate interest from oneself to include Environmental
one’s fellow citizens and the society one is
living in and is a part of today, acting with
respect for the future generation and
nature.

33 Frederick et al., Corporate social responsibility can be Stakeholder

1992 defined as a principle stating that Social
corporations should be accountable for the Environmental
effects of any of their actions on their
community and environment.

34 Van Marrewijk, In general, corporate sustainability and Voluntariness

2003 CSR refer to company activities – Stakeholder
voluntary by definition – demonstrating the Social
inclusion of social and environmental Environmental
concerns in business operations and in Economic
interactions with stakeholders.

35 Van Marrewijk, Companies with a CSR strategy integrate Stakeholder

2001 social and environmental concerns in their Social
business operations and in their Environmental
interactions with their stakeholders and Economic
demonstrate openly their triple P
performances.

36 Jackson and Corporate social responsibility is how you Stakeholder

Hawker, 2001 treat your employees and all your Social
stakeholders and the environment. Environment

37 Strategis, 2003 CSR is generally seen as the business Social

contribution to sustainable development, Environmental
which has been defined as development Economic

19 
 
 that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs, and is
generally understood as focusing on how to
achieve the integration of economic,
environmental and social imperatives.

Table 1 Dahlsrud, A. (2008). Definitions of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Similar Concepts:

Mohan (2003) in his study has attempted to list out the various concepts pertaining to
CSR and how over a period of time the concept has evolved. As most researchers
working in the field of CSR evolution have suggested, Mohan too has traced the
concept from 1950’s till 2002. What he fails to explicitly bring out is the geographical
development of the concept and how it has over a period of time enveloped the globe
making it into an integrated universal business phenomenon. The concepts he has listed
out are, starting from the latest to the earliest, Corporate Citizenship, Triple Bottom
Line, Sustainable Development, Corporate Social Rectitude, Corporate Social
Performance (CSP), Stakeholder Model, Corporate Social Responsiveness, Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR), Business Social Responsibility / Social Responsibility of
Businessman, Business Ethics / Business Philanthropy, Charity (pp74)

CSR and Corporate Citizenship:

Waddock, S. (2007) has discussed the concept of corporate citizenship (CC) and its
evolution. She has traced the history since 1950s when the term first begun to be used in
Europe till the 1990s when CC begun to be accepted in its current form not only in
Europe but also internationally. Waddock in her explanation of the concept has
explicitly mentions that CC is often known as CSR also though there is a difference
between the two. The former is concerned with the strategies and operating practices of
a company and its impact on the stakeholders, the natural environment, and the societies
where the business operates. While CSR is about the discretionary efforts of a company
to improve society in some way, it is also directly linked to the company's business
model which makes it essential to pay attention to the impact on stakeholders, nature,

20 
 
and society. Therefore, suggesting that CSR is a subset of CC wherein CC lays focus
upon the integral responsibilities attendant to a company's strategies and practices.

Altman and Vidaver-Cohen (2000) The writers focus in their study the reasons for the
growing importance of the concept of CC and indicate that in spite of a historical
presence of the CC it is primarily due to the impact of the forces of the global
environment of the late 20th century that corporations have begun to think of the local
community and starting and building of the business activity from that level. Emphasis
is laid upon finding new approaches for solving the common problem and find ways to
minimizing the negative impact of corporate operations. Most corporations of the
present times have recognized the strategic and positive link between business activity
and CC which has encouraged, promoted and institutionalized the CC practice across a
broad spectrum of firms, industries and nations.

Marden, C. (2000) He emphasizes the fact of CC extending beyond the present

theoretical extent of CSR in all its facets – principles, processes and performances. He
exemplifies this through a model illustrating the activities of the companies which have
achieved excellence in the area of CC. The states the CC is ideally suited as a concept
for the 21st century which is focused upon the ‘triple bottom line’ approach where
corporate activities and its performance objectives are intricately blended with the
engagement of society therefore making CC an action oriented concept of the present
century.

Post, J. (2000). Enforces upon the concept and its relevance in the present global
business climate where challenges are very different from that in the 20th century. He
exemplifies the idea by linking CC with industry uniqueness and offers a practice tool
to managers which address international issues but is equally applicable at the local
level as well. A futuristically looking article, as he states that with e-commerce
becoming a business reality in the present times, challenges for business especially
pertaining to ideas like CSR and CC would change drastically throwing up new
challenges. He also looks at the CC as an extension of CSR but suggests an integration
of the two to cope up the business environment of the virtual world.

21 
 
Matten et al. (2003). While discussing the concept of CC and CSR, they suggest that
CC is at times understood as a successor of CSR. They comment that “there seems to
be nothing in the CC literature which is significantly different from the traditional CSR
stance, except that it lacks any explicit normative aspect” (pp. 113). The writers indicate
a blurred distinction between the two concepts theoretically and therefore lead to
conclude that they may be understood as mutually exchangeable.

CSR and Corporate Philanthropy (CP)

Muller, A and Whiteman, G. (2009). The article brings to light the fact that corporate
have responded to disasters through corporate philanthropy (CP) and have raised it to a
new level. The writers emphasize that CP remains an understudied phenomenon. The
study analyzes donation announcements made by Fortune Global 500 firms from North
America, Europe and Asia to look for regional patterns across three recent disasters: the
South Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and the Kashmiri earthquake. This article
draws on comparative research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate
philanthropy to explore the geography of corporate philanthropic disaster response. The
results reveal inter-regional differences in the overall likelihood of donations and in
their cash value, in addition to the identification of home-region- and local presence
effects. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.

Dustin, K. S. (2008). The issues related to the idea of corporate philanthropy (CP) are
discussed in light of the prevailing economic crisis which the writers see are growing in
2009. He discusses and explains that small and mid-size companies (SMEs) tackle CP
by aligning themselves to non-profit organizations which satisfy a common goal of both
the corporate and the NGO. Since the economic crisis is growing and several companies
especially SMEs may not be able to take up CSR activities and yet they need the
support from the communities, CP has a bright future. Further, CP has a universal
appeal making it prevalent across the globe especially if the present economic crisis
prevails and lasts long.

Scheinfeld, A. (2001). The concept of CP is discussed in light with the prevailing

problems of the present day – issues related to poverty like slum dwelling and hard core

22 
 
unemployment. The writer emphasizes that the CP has failed to meet the socio-
economic challenges and he details the reasons for the failure of the same. According to
him the efforts put in by the business community has been ineffective because several
givers have allotted precedence to their personal inclinations than to the need of the
society, lack of interest or knowledge of the governmental schemes and policies aimed
at social welfare and providing input in terms of suggestions and strategies to improve
them and the inability of businessmen to see opportunities of entrepreneurial in the
alleviation of poverty and slums. He proposes to re-define and alter the understanding
of CP such that there is better ‘direct social action’ leading to betterment of lives of the
largely affected population. He proposes this through social investment where the
participating businessmen must contribute a part of their pre-tax profits and this fund be
professionally managed by a board of trustees.

Waddock, S. (2007). The writer has defined CP and the various manifestations it has.
She goes to give details about the funds collected in the form of CP in the United States
of America. The various reasons for which a firm engages in CP are discussed, the
prime being improving their relationships with important stakeholders such as
employees and customers and therefore improving the reputation of the company due to
which CP serves as a tool for public relations and enhanced corporate image. Altruism
and business driven by normative or ethics-based rationale is another reason for CP
whereas ‘enlightened self-interest’ is also another reason for the same. Strategic
philanthropy also characterizes business activity and in such a case there is an
alignment between the goals of the giver and the receiver leading to a situation of gains
at both the ends. CP therefore is considered as a sub-set of CSR and one of the means
through which social responsibility can be executed by the business and corporate
houses.

CSR and Corporate Governance (CG)

Berghe, L.V. D. and Louche, C. (2005) The article explores the idea of CSR and CG
and the writers bring forth the view that CSR is not another ‘passionate expression of
faith’ in a business practice but is becoming a necessity now because of the pressure
from various agencies and therefore a ‘‘responsible firm’’ is not the one who abides by

23 
 
the law of the land and works towards financial profits only, but the one which has a
focus on the growing role of business in society and therefore gives emphasis and lays
due importance to corporate governance.

Berge and Louche suggest that CSR and CG have a common orientation to give
direction to the company and business towards society and to be able to translate this
into corporate strategy. The clear cut link between CSR and CG is that CSR and
socially responsible investment improves and promotes stakeholder dialogue and good
CG on the other hand generates and enables socially responsible investment and CSR.
They believe that for CSR to be managed efficiently and effectively there needs to be a
change in the traditional understanding of CG as merely focusing upon the shareholders
as well as a change in the traditional management principles and accounting tools also
need to be re-looked.

Beltratti, A. (2005) CSR and CG are two accepted mechanisms which a company uses
to regulate its operations and CG basically refers to the mechanisms which a company
adopts for protection from outsiders to ensure smooth working of the company and CSR
is concerned more with the objective function of the company and its concern for the
various stakeholders. Therefore the two terms are intrinsically related and the paper lays
focus upon CSR in relation to profit maximization. Empirical evidence suggests that
both the CSR and CG share a positive relation with the market value of the firm
indicating that in the long run companies which are better at maximizing the returns
from a broadly defined bottom line – triple bottom line are supported with better
resources for the business.

CSR and Sustainability

Wheeler, D.; Colbert, B. & Freeman, E. (2003). The researchers have juxtaposed and
put the traditional markets dominated by the conventional mindset held investor and
stakeholder rights in an adverse manner as against the rising importance of relationships
and community operations grounded in value-based markets of the present economic
systems. Though the backbone of contemporary market driven economies is value
creation but value is itself defined variedly by different agencies. In spite of the

24 
 
variance in defining and understanding the idea of value-based networks, a commonly
understood phenomenon in the concept of value creation is the convergence of interests
of firms and stakeholders and society. A key influencing factor in the value-based
global economy has been the progress made in the field of communication technology.
There is faster spread of information leading to a more aware lot of stakeholders
especially in the more sensitive fields like energy, mining, forestry, oil and gas where
stakeholder impact of higher. The authors further the argument by classifying the
different kinds of organizational cultures as per their approach to value-creation
implying that CSR (from which stakeholder value-creation is carved) and sustainability
(creates the organizational culture) need to be completely in sync and reconciled
because the practical implications of one over the other affect the creation of value.

Ebner, D. and Baumgartner, R. J. (2006). The researchers have made extensive

literature study on the theme in sustainability and all the associated concepts which
have arisen through a period of time and make a deep impact in the areas of business
management and economic science. Through literature study the concepts of sustainable
development (SD), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and their relationship is
explored. The various facets of SD are laid bare and the core definition of SD given by
Brundtland has a social dimension which coincides with CSR and the concept of triple-
bottom-line used in CSR activities. Similarly some literature also indicates that CSR is
the representative of SD at a corporate level therefore while SD is a larger concept, CSR
is the execution of the same at a firm level. About 38% of the articles reviewed suggest
that CSR and SD are synonymous and are used as substitute terms and several scientific
research studies are based on this premise. This relationship between CSR and SD being
used as synonymous is very prevalent because over years concern for environment is
also a part of the CSR programme of several organizations.

Drivers of CSR

The various literature available in the field suggests that the there are external and
internal drivers to CSR. Governmental policies and the context of business operations in
terms of the industry norms, pressure from the industry bigwigs, national culture are
important external drivers to CSR while better brand building and risk management,

25 
 
attracting and retaining better human resources and innovation in markets and product
development are important internal drivers for CSR.

Swanson (1995) suggested that there were three main types of motivation for CSR:

i. The utilitarian perspective (an instrument to help achieve performance

objectives);

ii. The negative duty approach (compulsion to adopt socially responsible

initiatives to appease stakeholders); and

iii. The positive duty view (businesses self-motivated regardless of social

pressures) (Swanson in Maignan & Ralston 2002).

Vytautas J, and Vytautas S. (2009). The researchers have analysed the role of CSR on
the competitive advantage an organization holds. The assessment of the advantage on
the academic grounds is based on the traditional models – model of five forces, resource
based approach and model of network approach wherein each has its unique advantages
and disadvantage as the emphasis on different and so are the importance of the
advantages. For marketing purposes the customer is the key focus and so the interests of
this group of stakeholder are essential for smooth and strategic business operations.
This leads corporations to ensure that there is no conflict between business and society.

Support and a positive attitude from society can be garnered only by companies which
stand for ethical practices and generally acceptable social behavior. Further,
organizations are expected to execute their duty and work towards getting a solution to
social and ecological issues of concern. This helps organizations get a competitive edge
over others. The mission, vision value system and the organizational culture is a candid
reflection of the attitude of the organization towards CSR. In the contemporary stage of
social development, the customers a primal stakeholder, who is equipped with the
technologically advanced aids to make prudent decisions by comparing the pros and
cons of the different facets of various services and products. The customers hold a
favourable opinion about products and organizations which are sensitive towards social

26 
 
and environmental issues due to which organizations are therefore trying to ensure that
they extend support, offer partnerships, consolidate actions and stand for such causes.

External Drivers

Albareda, Laura; Lozano, Joseph M.; Tencati, Antonio; Midttun, Atle; Perrini,
Francesco. (2008) In their article, the writers have tried to bring out the role of the
government in promoting business to adopt CSR as a part of its values and strategies.
The governmental agencies draft an appropriate vision, value and strategies infused
through new strategies and the association of various stakeholders along with
governments over the last decade has lead to the governmental agencies reflecting a
pro-active approach and assuming the role of a key driver of CSR. Further, there have
been inter-governmental organizations which have led to drafting favorable public
policies which would further encourage a keener sense of CSR.

They have attempted at comparing the CSR initiatives and public policies of Italy,
Norway and United Kingdom to study the governmental support and response to CSR.
The common thread running through all the three governmental agencies indicate that
promotion of public private partnership is critical for an effective and a successful
working of CSR but at the same time the researchers have also focused upon the
differences in the public policy of the three governments which is primarily due to
variance in the prevalent culture, political framework, organizational structures and the
and the business and social background of the respective country.

Fox, T. (2004). The writer argues that the understanding of CSR is highly driven by the
north world which has as its focus for CSR the large organizations and therefore targets
its understanding keeping large and often multinational companies. The northern and
economically developed world holds the view that CSR is primarily a voluntary dogma.
The situation of the southern world is widely different and there development is the key
objective. Therefore to attain a truly development-oriented approach there is a distinct
need to create a conducive environment such that the responsible business activity
thrives in the south bringing to the forefront the economic and equity facets of
development leading to a sustainable development. The writer does pose a few

27 
 
questions about the relevance of voluntary CSR in the southern countries and mentions
the impact of a failure to achieve true development.

Antal, A. and Sobczak, A. (2007). The writers focus upon CSR in France and
elaborate to write about the reasons and the factors which drive and govern the
discourse and practice of CSR and general and which of the discussed reasons are
applicable to France as a nation specifically. The CSR development of any nation has
been categorized put into two mutually dependent and affecting factors – endogenous
and exogenous. The cultural, socio-economic and legal factors hold an impact upon the
way in which ideas are generated, the sort of questions considered consequential and the
kind of solutions which are conceived as desirable and possible. The article also finds
intra-country, social and economic factors as the basis of the evolution of CSR
expectations and practices along with global impact of factors as international academic
discourse, international practices of multinational companies, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and trade unions, and initiatives of supranational organizations.
The article ends with a detailed understanding of the impact of language, culture,
history and religion of France which is uniquely different from the Anglo-Saxon
understanding of CSR.

Internal Drivers

Better brand building and Risk Management

Lougee, B; Wallace, J. (2008). The authors explored the concept of CSR in relation to
investment and image building on customers covering a broad arena of risk
management and brand building and empirically tested the association between CSR
and other associated business activities. They used the social responsibility metric (a
measure that assesses the net strengths and weaknesses of CSR) of the S&P 500 and
Domini 400 companies. The results suggest that companies whose CSR strengths
outnumber the weakness gave higher return on assets (ROA) over a period of 15 years.
A circular causality was found indicating a possibility of a higher likelihood of
profitable companies investing in CSR initiatives to begin with and finding their
performance improved further by CSR investment. They further found that companies
invest heavily on CSR strengths than on eliminating the weaknesses therefore

28 
 
concluding that companies strategy falls in line with using CSR as a form of ‘risk
management’ tool that encourages and works upon the strengths of the companies so as
to mitigate the potential negative effects.

Rowe, M. (2006). The research article is a theoretical analysis of the various motivators
of CSR and the writer has discussed 3 critical reasons, risk, relationships and reputation
“the three R’s” for the business entities to promote CSR in their organizations. The
elaboration of the element of risk suggests that as the interconnectivity of business is
rising and there is a rise in the number of transnational and multinational companies the
risk element also increases. The risks include managing relationships with both the
internal and external stakeholders and the manner and management of these
relationships have a direct impact on the reputation of the company. Therefore the
outcome of the risk management – positive or negative holds a direct association of the
company finding itself into upward or downward spiral.

Story, D. & Price, T. J. (2006). The researchers have made a study on the businesses
operating in the United Kingdom basing it upon a survey conducted and the case studies
upon these businesses. The premise of the paper is use of strategic tools made by
organizations to carve out new business opportunities, curtail and reduce threats to its
operational and prospective development plans along with actively managing its
reputational risk. The researchers have equated this premise to the approach of
integrated organizational risk management which has also been understood as corporate
governance which like the integrated risk management approach also aims at
implementation of established management standards. Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) is one such recognized management standard which serves as an ‘influential
index’ of an organization’s attempt to safety, environment and other areas of business
operation. The findings of the study showed most organizations employed CSR as a
‘recognised management standard’ and it has impacted their decision making process
leading to companies focusing upon stakeholder concerns as well while making critical
decisions.

29 
 
Attracting and Retaining Better Human Resources
Demuijnck, G. (2009). The author has argued that one of the ways in which
organizations work upon their CSR policies directed towards employees as a
stakeholder is by ensuring that there is indiscriminate work environment in the
organization. It is a moral obligation and therefore the companies must accept their
moral responsibility towards non-discrimination. The aspect of CSR comes into play
because the author suggests that non-discrimination should be treated a full fledged
programme wherein the organization should be able to cope up with and address
‘microsocial’ aspects of discrimination through targeted policies. The ethical and
legislative tools are well known methods of handling non-discrimination which also
occupy the purview of CSR. Aiming at implementing the best set of practices aligns
CSR and HR functions and that ethical committee and leadership is the starting point
but not limited to effective human resource policies. The author has substantiated this
with a case study of a France based retailer who in spite of ethical processes in place
failed to provide remedies to non-discrimination and decided to re-draft policies
because of his faith and belief in the ethical orientation which a company must possess.

Hallin, A. & Gustavsson, T. K. (2009). The research article suggests that CSR and
HRM practice have merged into one and the present day manager finds it hard to
distinguish between his ‘private’ and ‘public’ roles. A middle manager has to tackle
with the complexities of the mixing up of CSR and HR issues and therefore often mere
crafting of policies is not enough to tackle the question and therefore a clear
understanding of both CSR and HR as separate theoretical fields is very important.

Vuontisjärvi, T. (2006). This paper explores by means of content analysis the extent to
which the Finnish biggest companies have adapted socially responsible reporting
practices. The research focuses on Human Resource (HR) reporting and covers
corporate annual reports. The criteria has been set on the basis of the analysis of the
documents published at the European level in the context of corporate social
responsibility (CSR), paying special attention to the European Council appeal on CSR in
March 2000. As CSR is a relatively new concept in Finland, the paper also contributes

30 
 
to the discussion on interface between HR reporting (especially as based on
measurements such as Human Resource Accounting and Intellectual Capital schools)
and corporate social reporting practices. The results of the content analysis indicate that
social reporting practices are still at an early stage of development in Finland. The most
reported theme was ‘training and staff development’. A positive sign was that the
majority also disclosed themes ‘participation and staff involvement’ and ‘employee
health and well-being’. Furthermore, nearly one-third made references to their work
atmosphere or job satisfaction survey. However, disclosures lacked overall consistency
and comparability with each other and especially quantitative indicators were disclosed
by few. Further concern was lack of information related to the theme equal
opportunities and going beyond a sheer disclosure of age or gender structure. The other
issues rarely disclosed were those related to employee work–life balance and integration
of disadvantaged groups in the labour markets.

Lutz, P; Axel, H and Dirk, M. (2009). The paper focuses upon the HR related issues –
human resource management and employee representation and its implications in
Europe. Its deals with the concern that the conspicuous difference between CSR
understanding of Europe and the Anglo-American background which largely differs is
getting diluted and the Anglo-American model is taking larger hold. The Anglo-
American model supports employee benefits largely through CSR. While the European
sensitivity towards human resource is more through intra-organizational support but this
is fading due to the convergence of the various economic forces. It is a matter of
struggle for both the HR managers and the employee representatives to work on a
strategy to cope up with the contemporary economic scenario. The writer calls it
process of ‘adaptation’. They conclude to suggest that in the highly competitive market,
most organizations are gaining the ‘first-mover advantage’ wherein the companies
following the Anglo-American model often act more efficiently and therefore are
holding a greater sway. They also suggest that both human resource management and
employee representative need to gain legitimacy within the organization and only then
the employees begin to play an active role in the CSR execution of the organization and
hold faith in it.

31 
 
Ona, M and Juozas, R. (2008). The paper deals with the premise and understanding
that CSR is gaining importance in the present times and is an activity which all
organizations will undertake but the environment in which the present business is
operating is highly complex. It further goes on to elaborate upon the three broad
categories in which stakeholders can be categorized and the employees form the core
integral group through whom organizations will be able to achieve the implementation
of ethical corporate behavior and therefore the success and failure of the CSR objectives
will largely depend upon the employees willingness to collaborate and support the CSR
activities of the organizations. The writers therefore build a case for the organizations to
understand the needs of the first group and ensure that the management of employees
should be done to attain competitive advantage through a strategic deployment of the
workforce. The deployment can be best achieved through a combination of cultural,
structural and personnel techniques. The writers validated the concept of total quality
management including human resource as a critical asset amongst the Lithuanian
employees through the survey method. They went on to understand the role of CSR in
enhancing the motivation, employee morale and commitment such that they are able to
recommend exact HR practices which would lead to innovation and flexible employees
who are committed to the cause of the organization including making the CSR activities
of the organization a success. This in turn would lead to attracting better and more
committed employees.

Brammer, S., Millington, A and Rayton, B. (2007). A model based upon social
identity theory is created which investigates the relationship between organizational
commitment and employee perceptions of CSR. The focus of the authors was upon
understanding the impact of social behavior on the organizational commitment vis-à-vis
employee’s perception of socially responsible behavior in the community, procedural
justice in the organization and the provision of employee training. The results were
drawn from the analysis of over 4000 employees from the financial services. A
distinctly positive relationship is established between organizational commitment and
the company’s contribution to CSR. Job satisfaction enhanced with higher involvement
into CSR activities. They also suggested a gender variation wherein the female

32 
 
employees showed higher level of impact between organizational commitment and their
perceptions of the company’s involvement into CSR.

Albinger, H. and Freeman, S. (2000). The study is focused upon investigating the
hypothesis that while CSR acts as a positive factor in drawing human resources, is
influenced by the choice of jobs of the potential job-seekers. The analysis and results
suggest that corporate social performance has a directly proportionate relationship with
the level of attractiveness it holds for job aspirations with high level of ‘job choice’
suggesting that higher the corporate social performance better the ability of an
organization to attract highly qualified employees. On the contrary a high level of
corporate social performance does not impact the job seeking population with low
levels of career choices. This indicates that CSR acts as an advantage point for
organizations which seeks specialized and very qualified workforce.

Innovation in Markets and Better Product Development

Vilanova, M.; Lozano, J. Arenas, D. (2009). At relatively recent study exploring the
relationship between CSR and competitiveness and conceptualizing the idea of knitting
the various parameters of competitiveness and holding their foundation in learning and
innovation cycle of an organization. The market is the key force defining
competitiveness and therefore the researchers have detailed into understanding the
‘critical competitive factors’ which are a product of the manner in which organizations
and financial analysts describe and evaluate a firm. The first such factor is understood
by analyzing the ‘current state of the art’ followed by the CSR criteria employed by the
financial analysts against valuation methods used by the company. Thirdly, the
conclusions of a ‘multi-stakeholder dialogue’ on CSR and competitiveness of the
financial sector of Europe are presented. A composite result of these varies factors
suggest that CSR and competiveness are integrated through a learning and innovation
cycle due to which the values, practices and policies of an organizations are
permanently defined and constantly evolving. Therefore the proposed concept relies
upon CSR being the foundation of business processes and as it gets absorbed, it results
in innovative business practices which enhance competitiveness. The researchers

33 
 
conclude that CSR in business operation comprises of handling divergent and opposing
forces due to the tensions arising between CSR and the business policies and strategies.

Zwetsloot, G. I. (2003). The three key partners in the 21st century business operation –
People, Planet and Profit are understood to be intensely positively impacted by the
innovative business practices all of which stem from CSR. The writer has made a
comparative analysis of basic business principles held in the 21st century and the end of
20th century – the 1990’s. The three key parameters of analysis which relate to both
CSR and management systems are a progression of ‘doing things’ beginning from
‘doing things right the first time’; improvised by ‘doing the right things’ and finally
‘continuous improvement and innovation. The writer argues that the management
principle focuses on the first stage while CSR lays emphasis on the second stage.
Though corporate which lay emphasis on ‘doing the right thing the first time’, have
their foundations in ‘doing the right things’, suggesting that the management principles
are important for CSR but they are a limited use of developing social responsibility. The
writer emphasis that the present level of insistence upon CSR should be pushed further
beyond the limited boundaries of the first two type of management systems to the final
level of continuous improvement and innovation which is possible for organizations
which lay a great deal of faith on CSR and therefore insist on relying upon the
‘Business Excellence Model’. To achieve and persist upon adherence to Business
Excellence Model, efforts need to be put in both at the individual level (employees of
the organization) as well as at the organizational level (policy making level). The author
concludes to suggest that the organizations which lay trust upon CSR should and will be
able to make continuous learning and innovation.

Atle, M. (2007). A conceptual paper where the author has worked upon the commonly
assumed positive interface between CSR and innovation and has questioned the
supposition that all CSR activities support innovation and vice-versa, a premise which
is the basis of several EU communication. With the objective of aligning and
understanding the CSR and innovation better a dynamic change in the orientation
towards CSR is needed which the author has done after analyzing the fundamental types
of CSR – workplace, market-place, environment and innovation – open innovation,

34 
 
society-driven innovation, stakeholder-driven innovation and customer-driven
innovation to suggest that not all forms of CSR and innovation mutually support each
other though synergy does exist between the two. Alte, further elaborates to distinguish
between complementary static and dynamic views of CSR and innovation and
conclusively suggesting that large part of innovation literature is dynamic in its nature
while CSR literature is dominated by traditionally static interpretations. The article rests
the debate with the suggestion that though there are limitations yet CSR literature needs
to be understood in a more dynamic manner which will need the involvement of the
policy-makers at a national level.

History and reasons for the need of CSR in India

Gautam, R. and Singh, A. (2010). The article brings out the varied understanding and
definitions of CSR which prevail in India and how CSR has developed in India. The key
issue dealt by the researchers, through en exploratory study, is the various CSR related
practices which flourish in India and a sample of top 500 Indian companies were
analysed to identify their practices and draw a pictures of the prevalence of CSR related
activities in India. Further the Indian CSR practices are mapped against the Global
Reporting Initiatives (GRI) standards – internationally accepted CSR reporting
guidelines. Content analysis technique was employed to analyse the data to find that
CSR activities in India are no a disjointed corporate affair but forms an integral part of
the business strategy because stakeholder consider rides high as it can have an impact
on the core business activity affecting its turnover and profit. Therefore a concurrence
between CSR and business is apparent though such relevance to CSR is paid by a small
number of companies who have a systematic and structured approach to implementing
and communicating CSR. Most companies are still making ‘token gestures’ to CSR
which often is a by-product of the philanthropic activities of the companies. The
umbrella of CSR related activities is very diverse since different companies define CSR
differently to suit their organization type and CSR activity sphere.
Narwal, M. & Sharma, T. (2008). The foundation of the paper is based on the
understanding that post liberalization, the corporate sector has had an immensely deep
impact on the Indian society which is itself in a state of speedy transformation. In this
background the researchers have tried to empirically testify the perceptions of the

35 
 
Indian society about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by gathering data from
northern India through a structured questionnaire and analysed through factor analysis.
The results reflected that in a market driven economy, there is a mixed opinion about
corporations engaging in socially responsible activities. They are perceived both as
positive as well as elements of doubt over their intentions exist. The expectations from
the corporations are that they should be ethical reflecting responsible behavior. The
cause for skepticism may be because there is an existence of a disjointed relationship
between the society and business which needs to be got closer and integrated further.
The responsibility to build confidence on business activity lies on the corporations and
through understanding the sentiments of the society at large and stakeholders
specifically the corporate should be able to align their social responsibilities in a more
suitably and rewarding manner.

Jamali, D. & Mirshak R. (2007). The writers have focused upon the concept of CSR
in developing economies by basing their understanding in the conceptualization of CSR
as provided by two fundamental researchers Carroll (1979) and Wood (1991) and the
integration between the two, after discussing the diverse understanding of the concept. 8
Lebanese (Lebanon is a developing nation like India where the concept of CSR is also
nascent) companies considered active in their CSR endeavour’s were studied for the
approach and philosophy they hold towards CSR on the following four parameters –
types of CSR; CSR principles; responsiveness strategies and outcomes of behaviour.
The results of the content analysis of the interviews with managers reflected that CSR in
organizations in Lebanon lacks a cohesive, a strategy-driven and policy-guided
approach. It is disjointed and fragmented in both the conduct and communication which
is clearly reflected by the fact that none of the companies had a dedicated CSR officer
and neither a CSR communication strategy. Managerial discretion was the key driver of
CSR making CSR activities highly subjective. The traditional ideas of CSR being over-
shadowed by philanthropic concerns dominated the Lebanese corporations and a need
to handle social activities in a more professional manner leading it from philanthropy to
strategy such that it more systematic, focused and institutionalized.

36 
 
Prieto-Caron, M.; Lund-Thomsen, P.; Chan, A.; Muro, A. and Bhusan, C. (2006).
The article presents a critical view and highlights the major differences in CSR agenda
and orientation which exist between the western and the developed nations and the
focus and emphasis of CSR in developing nations to address the development needs and
make CSR more ‘people-centric’ than being just driven as a ‘business case’. The
diverse experience gained through empirical study of the researchers was used to
understand and address the idea of CSR critically in the developing nations – Central
America, Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Argentina and India. The business oriented attitude
of corporations towards CSR is lop-sided and further research is needed to address the
appropriate development needs of the developing world through CSR. The authors
suggest a need for more development of methodologies which can present the impact of
CSR in a quantifiable manner with a research focus on the following four areas – a) the
relationship between business and poverty reduction; b) the impact of CSR initiatives;
c) governance dimensions of CSR; and d) power and participation in CSR. The paper
concludes to suggest that while attempting at analysing CSR focus should be paid at
who the stakeholders are and the degree of impact CSR initiatives have on them.
Localization of CSR initiatives especially to address the needs to the area is most
imperative and important.

Kanagasabapathi, P. (2007). The paper builds a context or CSR in India in the present
times by looking into the historical time line through the various books and writings of
ancient India which have been talking about the role of values and ethics and the
integration of the two with the business activity in India. The author suggests that in
ancient India value to integral to commercial activity but over years due to the various
rampages faced by the Indian native systems and the inability to revive the native hold
of values over business post independence, the ethical element has got completely
washed off from the commercial activity at the institutional level. The writer makes an
interesting observation that at the individual level or what he terms as the ‘non-
corporate level’ confidence and faith in human values beyond exclusive monetary drive
is still present and practiced. ‘Faith-based’ transactions are an order of the day even in

37 
 
contemporary times when unwritten norms founded in values and ethics are the guiding
forces for several economic activities.

Gupta, A.D. (2007). The author deals in depth discussing about the history of the role
business has in working for society and mentions that it has been driven by philanthropy
and the discussion is furthered by drawing the distinction between CSR and corporate
philanthropy –involvement of stakeholder as a decision making force and the focus of
CSR also being to ‘build good public image’. He builds on the TERI suggested model
of ‘trusteeship’ describing the various industrialists like Kasturbhai, JRD Tata,
Ramkrishna Bajaj, Arvind Mafatlal etc who joined and supported the freedom
movement to build the idea of nation consciousness. The paper elaborately talks about
Swami Vivekananda, an eminent Indian thought monks views upon practical Vedanta
on issues like humanity, society, organization, brothers and sisters model all indicating
and suggesting that welfare of society has been an intrinsic part of the Indian ethos.
Build on the issues focused upon by the Global Compact regarding human rights,
labour, environment and anti-corruption and goes on to elaborate the list of Indian
companies who have found position on the UN global compact website in July 2005
and discusses the analysis of data gathered through a structured questionnaire
suggesting that responsible initiatives are positive and crucial for a country like India
where data regarding CSR is scanty and limited to a few select sectors. The paper
concludes to suggest that true CSR leadership look beyond the narrow confines of doing
right and focus upon establishing and encouraging responsible business practices.

Arora, B. & Puranik, A. (2004). The authors discuss about CSR in the context of
developing countries with a special focus India and base their arguments on the ground
that since CSR is north–led phenomenon, its chances of fitting into the Indian frame
with its unique socio-economic dimensions seems to require structural alternations. A
development-oriented framework is applied to the prevalent CSR practices to
contextualize CSR practice in a country like India suggesting that the western
orientation and modeling of CSR needs to be modified to fit the Indian frame and be a
success. An analysis of the present condition of CSR practice by corporate in India is
made to conclude that has liberalization and globalization has galvanized the

38 
 
momentum of practice of responsible activity in India but attachment and association to
philanthropic deeds still reins high and there is a distinct mismatch between the
extraordinary financial growth which several Indian business houses have achieved and
their association to CSR as a practice. The paper recommends a shift in the mindsets of
the Indian businessmen towards adopting CSR as a strategic business practice as against
stray deeds of welfare in the form of philanthropy.

ITC Ltd. & Deveshwar, Y. (2009). The study is focused upon the state and functioning
of CSR in the Indian context and states a lack of research literature in this region. The
literature reflects distinct gaps in the theoretical literature suggesting that focus lies
upon customers, shareholders and employees missing out on integrating community
with the focal business activity such that it leads to diversification and broadening of the
product line as well as in empowerment of the community. To fill in these gaps, the
writers bring in the case description and analysis of ITC Ltd and the manner in which
the company has fulfilled its social responsibility. The writers go on to empirically
validate the manner in which CSR has been understood internationally where it is
culture-driven in places and yet at the same time the element of objectivity is important
to bring in neutrality in understanding CSR such that it can be followed by people in
countries like India as well. In India CSR has an etic interpretation and is grounded in
the philanthropic culture which is an integral part of the Indian business understanding.
The role of leader in influencing CSR related activities is crucial and blending the two
issues of CSR understanding and role of leader ITC as a case is analysed lending
important lessons of how CSR has been innovatively linked to the basic product fibre of
the organization on one hand and it has created opportunities of value creation at the
‘bottom of the pyramid’ markets like the Indian market.

Difference Between India’s and the Western World’s understanding of CSR

Gugler, P. and Shi, J. (2009). The writers have dealt with the divide existing between
the developing and the developed world. They elaborate to discuss and conclude that
the divide is both – conceptual and practical, indicating a difference between the
understanding of CSR and the manner in which it is practiced by the developed
‘northern’ countries and the developing ‘southern’ countries. They have termed this as

39 
 
the ‘North-South CSR Divide’. The basis of the argument offered is the competitiveness
mismatch between the large number of SMEs operating in the developing world and the
multinational enterprises of the developed world which now operate in the same market
due to globalization. The idea of strategic CSR has been developed in the north and it
includes the idea of CSR engagement (involvement of various stakeholders into the
decision making process) which helps provide, north- driven organizations, a
competitive advantage. Against this the south enjoys the advantage through the supply
chains and availability of labour and therefore often the SMEs operating in the south did
not appreciate the idea of CSR engagement. But over a period of time with changing
business environment developing nations of the third world countries are becoming
proactive and taking initiatives towards CSR. The researchers conclude to say that
drafting of a considerate CSR policy is required which should be able to bridge the CSR
gap which exists between the northern and the southern world and helps promote CSR
standard setting and participation from both the sides. Finally the authors conclude to
say that the ‘international investment legal framework’ should articulate the business
organizations obligations relating to CSR activities in a more definite and ‘explicit’
manner.

CSR in the IT Sector

Jose, P.; Bandi, R. & Mehra, M. (2003). The article is the summation of the round
table discussion conducted at the Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore (IIMB).
Eminent members from the private, public and the voluntary sector together discussed
the core issues regarding CSR in the Indian IT sector and further action which can be
taken to enhance it. Without undermining the strategic importance of the IT sector in a
few pertinent questions have been raised through this article to understand the activities
of the IT sector holistically. The article questions the issue that the ‘developmental
potential’ of the IT sector has been responsible for the divide between the ‘information
elites’ and the ‘impoverished majority’ in a country like India. With several benefits
attached to IT sector, it is equally pressing to note its performance in terms of non-
financial activities and its utility for the larger good. Views of various speakers are
summarized and analysed in the article which concludes by mentioning the specific

40 
 
actions ranging from the macro level – national level, where policy and wide impacting
actions like spreading IT benefits to rural areas and enforcing corporate citizenship
activities through change in legislation, through the industry level where maintaining
labour standards and spreading CSR awareness such that the IT model of CSR becomes
an ideal one, and effective at the micro level – the firm level, where the firms are able to
integrate CSR into the strategic planning and begin to hold a stakeholder approach in all
activities .

Tewari, R. (2010). This paper studies the contribution of corporate social responsibility
(CSR) of the IT sector to the process of economic development in India. The IT sector
has grown multifold and brought along impacts on the business environments which are
both positive and negative in nature. It has been blamed for affecting the environment
and the lives of many citizens. CSR activities in the modern corporate affairs have been
identified as an important business practice through which companies are able to pay
back to the surroundings from where they take and therefore it acts a as balancer. The
author has in this paper tried to assess the contribution of the IT sector vis-à-vis the
other sectors to conclude and find the position in terms of the CSR performance of the
IT sector in terms of various parameters of CSR. The other four sectors included in the
study and considered for comparison are cement, steel, oil and banking. A comparative
analysis was used to find that the IT was indeed a champion in heralding the cause of
CSR in India and the dimensions were brought out where the other sector need to re-
assess their CSR strategies.

NASSCOM – Deloitte Study (2008). The report is a result of the findings from a
survey conducted by NASSCOM and Deloitte regarding the socially relevant
community activities undertaken by the IT and ITES industries in India. It was found
that the focal target groups of these activities are the marginalized groups of people
enveloping a band of activities ranging from education to medical services and
coinciding with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The report provides
details of the community initiatives undertaken to conclude that 85% of the IT/ ITES
companies surveyed did make some sort of socially relevant initiative and nearly half of
these firms had structured operations with systematic procedures and policies and 22%

41 
 
of the companies being further formal holding a separate department involved
exclusively in the conduct of socially relevant activities. A major form of the social
activities came in the form of donations and offerings made to other institutions to
support the social cause championed by them. The core areas of activities by the IT/
ITES sector can be clubbed under education, health, environment and other sectors.
Nearly 68% of the companies had education bound initiatives with the average number
being 6 per company impacting more than 2.5 million people much beyond the limited
local sphere. The education initiatives cover a broad range from access to education to
retention of participants to the education process. Training and technology support has
been a core area. Health initiatives are high on the list of IT/ ITES companies because
of the short comings in the public health system in India. 72% of the top range and 56%
of the mid range companies work on health related issues with an average of 3
initiatives per company. The health initiatives work on creating awareness, providing
access to superior quality medical support to the marginalized sections of society. 42%
of the companies surveyed held environment related initiatives through internal
business practices or external community linked initiatives ranging from awareness
creation to proactive measures like conservation of natural resources and building eco-
friendly structures. Other areas of community initiatives include employment of
differently-abled, providing of livelihood support and promotion of arts and sports etc.

FIAS & BSR (2007). This report carries the details of a project aimed at improving the
CSR standards in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in
China’s information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Shenzhen which
is a major destination of outsourcing activities in the ICT sector. An implementation
strategy aimed at enhancing the CSR standards in the ICT was done through a review of
the external environment in terms of public policy which impacts the CSR
implementation such that a capacity building strategy could be drafted which would
subsequently be followed by the implementation of the project so that the entire social
and environmental standards of the ICT which includes the global supply chain could
be enhanced and this would result in attracting and retaining international customers to
China. The report also suggests better working conditions would maintain an overall
competitiveness in the industry and achieving the government’s goal of the 11th five

42 
 
year plan of a harmonious society and economic benefits in the form of enhanced
business opportunities, reduced worker turnover improved reputation of the region and
the sector. The recommendations offered by the report multiple stakeholders –
suppliers, customers and the government agencies all of whom play a crucial role in
building the ICT sector through enhanced CSR standards in China.

ASK- Verité (2006). A joint association between an Indian and an american foundation
ASK-Verité delve into research and works on capacity building programmes. The social
audits and research on CSR related issues in the ICT sector comprise of the components
of this newsletter. The issue released carried on the e-management activities undertaken
by the firms in the IT and ITES sector. It records the employee related CSR activities
employed by the sector. The details included the work-life balancing activities
especially with relevance to the female workers. An article also enlists the development
the IT and ITES sector has made in terms of progress and development and therefore
build a case to justify why it is becoming more and more important for the sector to take
up CSR activities and especially with several MNCs setting up their business activities
in India.

CSR Communication
Communication of CSR has been labeled either as CSR communication or CSR
reporting and has been identified as an integral part of the ‘CSR life-cycle’ which
organizations adopt. Most firms implementing and accepting social responsibility
ensure that once the processes and guidelines to plan and execute CSR activities are
established the companies formalize the CSR communication process to be engaged in a
communication cycle with a wide variety of stakeholders. In fact certain firms designate
an employee with the primary responsibility of engaging a communication process with
the stakeholders regarding non-financial issues of which CSR is primary.
The key argument supporting CSR communication is the influence it has on opinion
and reputation making about the organization. It helps in managing the expectations of
external stakeholders and encouraging other firms in adopting CSR and therefore
creates a CSR supportive business friendly environment.

43 
 
A set of standardized framework and structures are available for firms to convey CSR
related information to their stakeholders in a transparent manner. The parameters of the
frameworks ensure that CSR communication reflects the CSR performance in a manner
that it can be measured as well as accounted and its impact of business and stakeholders
brought out in a quantifiable manner. Some of the more commonly used frameworks
available in the area of CSR reporting are as follows:
• GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), with G3 being its latest guidelines (Annexure
1 – GRI and Reporting Framework)
• CSR Assessment Tool Conference Board of Canada in partnership with Imagine
• Corporate Responsibility (CR) Index by Business in the Community (BITC)
• CSR Insight TM Five Winds International
• Eco-efficiency Tools for Business
• ISO 26000 (a guideline in the planning stage)
• Tata Index in India for Sustainable Human Development framed around the Tata
Business Excellence Model in India. The guidelines are mainly influenced by
the Human Development Index of the UNDP
• GRI and UNGC have recently collaborated so as to enable companies to
synchronise reporting on G3 and UNGC principles in a single report.
Both GRI and UNGC are seeing an increase in their membership numbers across
countries.

Ahwa, D. & Mohan, J. (1983). This research article is a seminal and very early paper
which dwelt upon the issue of CSR disclosure in India. The study was conducted to
understand the degree of CSR disclosure in India and what are the factors which impact
them. The results suggests that in 80’s, when the concept of CSR was not very
established in India, less than 25% of the companies disclosed about 40% of the CSR
activities in the annual reports and an equal number disclosed less than 20% indicating a
very low CRS disclosure practice amongst industries in India. Added amongst these
companies the private sector organizations disclosed more CSR activities than the
public sector organizations and irrespective of the type of company the manufacturing
sector outperformed the service sector in CSR disclosure items, Even amongst the

44 
 
manufacturing sector companies involved in producing basic material and capital goods
were more active there CSR disclosure than others. The factors which affect the CSR
disclosure are the total assets and the earning margin of a company which impacts CSR
disclosure positively while CSR disclosure remains unaffected by the age of the
company and the net sales. The authors recommend CSR disclosure because some items
of CSR activities and disclosure do not require a big investment costs while they have a
positive impact on the image of the company.

Murthy, V. (2008). The researcher analysed the 2003-2004 annual reports of 16

software firms operating in India to understand the various stakeholders who were
addressed through the annual reports and which attributed about each stakeholder was
reported. Content analysis was used to make the study and the results suggested that
human resources were the most highly reported followed by community development
while the least disclosure was about environment in the annual reports. Most CSR
related information was not substantiated by quantitative attributed and was purely
descriptive and fell as miscellaneous disclosures because they were included in the
‘Others’ section of the annual report though a few reports did carry a specific section
and some also disclosed CSR in the introductory section of the annual report. The
drivers for disclosures about different stakeholders varies – customers are disclosed
about to match the global competition, community is catered to because of the
expectations from the surroundings and the dearth of skilled talent drives the disclosure
relating to human resources in India

Du, S.; Bhattacharya, C. and Sankar, S. (2010). The article brings out the positive
gains which CSR yields and justifies that CSR enables favourable stakeholder
relationships, builds corporate image which in turn strengthens stakeholder–company
relationships, and enhances stakeholders' advocacy behaviors. In spite of these
advantages the main problem is the lack of awareness amongst the stakeholders because
of which the organization practicing CSR is unable to reap rightful benefits. This factor
recognizes the basic need of communicating it to the stakeholders. In order to better
communicate it a conceptual framework has been presented and its aspects analysed

45 
 
from the content of the message and channels of communication to company and
stakeholder-specific factors that influence the effectiveness of CSR communication.

Kolk, A.; Pinkse, J. (2010). The authors have worked on the understanding that CSR
and corporate governance (CG) are no more two mutually exclusive activities and there
is a distinct overlap between the two especially CG have begun to include aspects which
traditionally fell under the umbrella of CSR. They elaborate to say that the interlink
between the two is of higher focus amongst the multinational enterprises (MNE’s)
where the importance of CSR in disclosure policies is much higher since MNEs operate
in several companies and enjoy a greater exertion of wealth. Based on the report
submitted by Fortune Global 250 companies more than half of them have a separate
corporate governance section in their CSR report and/or explicitly link corporate
governance and CSR issues. This linking helps them to concentrate better on the CSR
activities of the organization. Further, MNEs which disclose a larger platter of CSR
related information enveloping a wider variety of social and environmental issues and
the focus of CSR is upon internal issues, such organizations are more inclined to
integrate corporate governance into their CSR reporting. The integration between CSR
and CG seems to be an international phenomenon which has cut across various
countries and sectors.

Lattemann, C. Fetscherin, M.; Alon, I.; Shaomin L; Schneider, A. (2009). This

research study works on to make a comparative study of the communication of CSR in
India and China. It explains why do firms in China, which has a higher level of
economic development, communicate less CSR than firms in India. Further it talks of
using a model that includes country-, industry-, and firm-level factors to predict CSR
communications intensity, a proxy for CSR activities. The research studied 68 MNC’s
in India and China which showed that Indian firms communicate more CSR primarily
due to a more rule-based, as opposed to relation-based, governance environment. Also
the firms in manufacturing industry tend to communicate more CSR. Further,
characteristics like size, duality of CEO and board chairperson, and percentage of
external members on the board have a significant influence on CSR communications.
The theoretical implication of the study was to bring out perspectives relying not only

46 
 
on firms, industry and specific factors but on governance environment. The study also
suggested that in order to improve the CSR of firms, policy makers in India and China
must first try to improve public governance at the national level. For the countries
dealing with India and China it is necessary to know the CSR well. Finally for the
International community the study suggests that the system doesn’t change very fast and
so does the CSR.

Morsing, M. and Schultz, M. (2006). The article critically analyses CSR

communication with the stakeholders’ perspective and how there can be both positive as
well as negative impact of CSR communication and to aware of the environment the
researchers suggest the theory of sense- making for an effective understanding of the
communication process. They suggest through empirical evidence that the managers
involved in CSR communication should be constantly aware that CSR communication
is like a ‘double-edged’ sword which may boomerang and therefore it is important that
communication managers should try and involve stakeholders in the process of CSR
communication as a step towards ‘pro-active’ CSR endorsement. Lastly the article
indicates that non-financial reports can also be used as a tool for indirect CSR
communication.

Strating, R. (2007). The researcher has in this study taken two poles guarding the CSR
approach to business. One is the stakeholder and legitimacy theory while on the other
hand the critical views of researchers like Milton Friedman and Michael Jenson. The
energy sector is considered for study where companies are noticed to be making an
attempt to legitimize their CSR in the annual reports and CSR reports. There is equal
conviction of CSR playing an important role in enhancing the long-term shareholder
value and yet the focus in CSR disclosure is upon legitimatizing CSR and on
stakeholder value. Few companies take an explicit CSR stance instead they hold a
strategic stakeholder approach which indicates towards maximising shareholders’ value.

Cramer, J; van der Heijden, A. and Jonker, J. (2006). The researchers have
explored a rather abstract phenomenon of how organizations conceptualize CSR and the
manner and the ways in which they articulate it to the stakeholders. The study used

47 
 
explorative case method and compared the data gathered through background
information, interviews and annual reports of 18 companies in Netherland. The study
marks the steps of CSR adoption and popularization in an organization. The first move
is made by the change agents who guide and coordinate the process and explore the
possibilities of implementing CSR in the organization. The meaning attached to CSR is
affected by the change agents’ personal values, organizational values and frames of
reference. To garner support the articulation of CSR is done in a language which is in
sync with that of the colleagues of the change agents. Therefore the researchers have
concluded that the CSR procedure can be divided into ‘pragmatic, external, procedural,
policy-oriented and value-driven’ processes. The key factors identified which play a
crucial role in implementation of CSR are personal preferences, and the language use
for articulation which distinctly means that every organization needs to have a unique
and customized way to implement CSR.

Bowd, R.; Bowd, L.; Harris, P. (2006). The research article harps upon the relevance
of CSR in the present business environment and suggests that with changing times and
societal expectations, ‘intrusive media reporting’, and the growth in the number and
intensity of the pressure groups CSR is becoming indispensable and business entities
are becoming more socially responsible and considering their impact in society due to
which CSR no more remains a ‘fad’. To ensure that firms benefit from the CSR
activities it is important that they apprise their community of stakeholders about their
CSR deeds for which it is important that organizations understand the concept of CSR
and what it means to their stakeholders, then engage into it followed by CSR
communication. To carry on the study the researchers studied the major retail centres in
United Kingdom where they drew out CSR viewpoints prevalent in academic and
practicing circle and then tested these vies with those of the stakeholders. The findings
indicate that when stakeholders are treated as a homogenous group then the managers
the stakeholders shared a common view about CSR.

Ziek, P. (2009). The researcher has attempted to paraphrase the present situation of
research in the area of CSR communication and has mentioned that various studies have
conducted attempting to understand CSR communication but they all include or rest

48 
 
upon varied theories or approaches to CSR and fail to explicitly present a set of
communicative behavior which would indicate the virtuosity of the organization and its
responsible activities implemented as CSR. Most large firms communicate CSR and
primarily rely upon the traditionally accepted understanding of CSR as a virtuous deed
indulged in by the firms. They follow the patterned communicative behavior to make
utmost sense to the stakeholders. Therefore the researcher suggests that most CSR
communication related literature lacks a simplistic approach and therefore this paper
provides an illustration of accounts which convey CSR communication in a non-
complicated manner.

Alon, I, Lattemann, C.; Fetscherin, M. and Schneider, A. (2010). The research is a

product of international survey, using telephonic interview and questionnaire,
conducted in 4 key developing nations of the world, Brazil, Russia, India and China
also known as the BRIC nations. The CSR communication and the role of corporate
communication in managing it is the focus of this study. The CSR motivators, systems
and focus stakeholders vary between the countries and China comes out to be least
communicative about CSR issues. The implementation process differs between these
developing nations and drawing understanding from India’s intensity to CSR
communication over China indicates that the level of economic prosperity cannot be a
key determinant to CSR communication. Therefore an envelope approach cannot be
adopted while understanding and analyzing the CSR activities and communication
across these BRIC nations.

Lattemann, C.; Fetscherin, M.; Alon, I.; Shaomin, L.; Schneider, A. (2009). The
article makes a comparison between the CSR communication of the Chinese and Indian
MNCs and is based upon the fundamental issues probing the reason for lesser CSR
communication made by the Chinese firms as against the Indian counterparts though the
economic development is distinctly higher in China. Using country-industry and firm-
level factors a model is proposed which would help predict the intensity of CSR
communication. The sample consisted of 68 largest MNCs operating in India and China
and the result suggest the CSR communication is higher in India as against China
because Indian has ‘rule-based governance’ as against ‘relation-based governance’,

49 
 
therefore the country-industry factors. In terms of the firm-level factors, manufacturing
industries communicate more CSR as against the service sector and other factors which
impact CSR communication are the size of the firm and other corporate governance
factors like the CEOs position and role and the presence and percentage of external
members on the board. The paper concludes to hint at the executives operating in China
and Indian and since the larger governance environment is different therefore CSR
communication would also vary and any sort of change would be gradual because the
national governance environment very slowly.

Planken, B.; Sahu, S. and Nickerson, C. (2010). The research study on the
communication strategy adopted by several Indian business houses about their CSR
investigates the basket of CSR activities adopted by Indian firms. The CSR platforms
and the attitudes of the stakeholders form the basis – ‘form and content’ of the CSR
communication which in turn is used by the firms. Both primary and secondary sources
of information were analysed to find out that the Indian firms indulge in philanthropic
activities aimed at community building and the communication and impact of these
activities do not impact the consumers as highly as other CSR activities would do and
therefore help in forming a positive attitude and opinion about the various marketing
strategies adopted by the firms. The paper concludes to suggest ways through which
Indian corporations may formulate their CSR communication strategies in such a
manner that it impacts the stakeholders positively and provides the organizations a
competitive advantage.

Scott, S.G. and Lane, V.R. (2000). The focus of this research was largely based upon
the importance and relevance attached to stakeholders while making CSR
communication. It lays emphasis on the fact that marketing communication uses CSR.
This done to stimulate the stakeholders cognitive connect with the organization by
presenting the organizations images in communication, showing the stakeholders
association to the organization in public and increasing the interactions between the
stakeholder and the organization. Such methods help to enhance the organizations
identification with the stakeholder as a result of which organizations communication
incorporates CSR aspects in most of its internal and external communication like

50 
 
newsletters, public speeches, advertisements etc to ensure that its corporate
communications manages to convey an image of a corporate citizen with a focus on its
stakeholders.

The researchers supplemented their findings with case studies like those of Shell’s
communication focused upon its cause for environmental protection where they said
"our progress with environmental care and social responsibility." Similarly Starbucks’
commitment towards the economically underprivileged economies of the world is
depicted through its candid statement about being a company which sells ‘Fair Trade
coffee.’ The paper concludes to suggest that such a communication helps project the
organization in a positive light in issues of concern for being socially responsible.
Organisations like Wal-Mart and Fannie Mae employ testimonials from the primary
stakeholders and put them up on public domain to be able to communicate their
affiliations to and response from the stakeholders. Service company like EDS in the
United States organizes events where it brings together the various stakeholders and
encourages interaction and discussions towards involving them into a common project
such that a link is established between the organization and the stakeholder.

Therefore communication regarding CSR helps create awareness about the socially
responsible initiatives taken by the organizations along with creating a common
platform which acts as a link between the organization and its various stakeholders.

Maignan, I. and Ferrell, O.C (2004). The article emphasizes the importance of
intelligent CSR communication to reap concrete benefits out of the CSR initiatives
undertaken by a firm. They convey that there is a direct association between an
organization’s communication of CSR initiatives to different people and the
identification which its stakeholders would have with it. The research concluded to
suggest that the higher the number of CSR relevant images contained in a firms
communication the higher is the organizational identification with the concerned
stakeholders, the increased number of common concerns between the organization and
the stakeholder projected through communication the more positive the impact on
organizational identification with the stakeholders concerned with that issue and the

51 
 
more interactions promoted through communications leads to higher organizational
identification and the stakeholder concerned with that issue.

The article empirically concluded that the CSR communication acts as a moderating
factor between the organizations image and the stakeholders. It also reiterates that CSR
cannot be practiced as stray benevolent activities introduced in the form of
philanthropy, environmental or employee-friendly policies and practices but it should
be backed by well established principles and processes which would be able to meet the
stakeholders expectation providing security and confidence to them.

Channels of CSR Communication

CSR Communication through Websites

Chapple, W. and Moon, J. (2005). The article is a result of a cross nation study of 7
countries – India, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, South Korea, Singapore and
Thailand. It focuses upon four main issues concerning CSR across various nations in a
similar region. The issues are – the homogeneity of CSR across nations, the impact of
stages of development of the economy on CSR, the effect of globalization of CSR in the
Asian countries and the indigenous business systems impacting the CSR profiles of
organizations operating in those countries. To study these issues the websites reporting
of 50 companies operating in these countries was considered. The findings show that
there exists a considerable difference between the website reporting of CSR in the 7
Asian countries primarily not because the stages of development are different but more
because the business systems structure varies and the factors of business have a bigger
impact on CSR profiles of the firms operating in these countries. Further, MNCs are
more inclined and forthcoming in adopting CSR than firms which only have local
operations. The CSR profile of MNCs is more impacted by the country of operation
than their country of origin indicating that globalization does facilitate in promoting and
encouraging CSR activity but its structure has a definite localization impact.

Cappriotti, P & Moreno, A. (2007). The study aims to examine the presence and
organization of CSR related information on the corporate web sites of companies
that are listed on the index of the Spanish stock market. The tools developed by the

52 
 
authors have helped to identify CSR and how to analyze information. The
methodology used for research was content analysis which includes the study of
recorded human communications such as books, websites, paintings etc thus
helping to analyze recorded transcripts of interviews with participants. The results
reveal that the companies on their websites focus mainly on the topics of social and
environmental action and promulgate extensively only a limited idea of what
corporate responsibility is. Another important finding brought out from the study is
that CSR related information on corporate websites is highly dispersed. However
there is a research limitation on inferences as the study was conducted on a sample
of companies from the Spanish stock market, and therefore the results are not
necessarily specimen of the entire Spanish stock market.

Wanderley, L.; Lucian, R.; Farache, F. & Sousa Filho, J. (2008). The article
highlights the importance which CSR is getting across the globe and the manner in
which it is becoming increasingly important in business. With changing times
Internet has also found importance in the business world and the firms to use it as a
major source for exposure to CSR information thus enabling a speedy and
economic dissemination of information on CSR. With a powerful tool available,
corporations are increasingly concerned with communicating ethically and
responsibly to the diversity of stakeholders through the web. The paper provides an
in-depth understanding of the extent of influence the country of origin and/or
industry sector on disclosure of information about CSR on corporate website. In
order to achieve this websites of 127 companies were analysed from upcoming
countries such as Brazil, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand and
South Africa, it become clear that though both country of origin and industry
sector have a significant influence over CSR information disclosure on the web
(CSRIDOW), country of origin has a stronger influence over CSRIDOW than
industry sector. The results of this study counter findings from a few earlier studies
which concluded that the country of origin doesn’t have a very deep impact of
CSR communication but the industry and sector of operation impacts CSR
reporting exceedingly.

53 
 
Chaudhari, V. & Wang, J. (2007). The research study is based on the premise that
active and transparent communication about CSR is essential and organizations
understand and accept the relevance of it and therefore the objective of this study is to
analyse the dimensions of importance of communication, amount of communication
and the manner of presentation of information. The channel of communication was the
websites of the IT companies operating in India. The results suggest that the total
number companies putting up their CRS related information on the websites is
immensely low from which it can be easily deduced that the technology sector is not
leveraging the advantage of being technology savvy and are losing an opportunity to
communicate a large amount of CSR information in an impressive manner. The
researcher cautions to say that low CSR communication on the websites may not
necessarily mean lack of CSR related activities but it does suggests that managers of IT
firms handling CSR should try and make the most of the technology to communicate
CSR and derive maximum advantage from it.

Moreno, A. & Capriotti, P. (2009). The article builds the background and examines
the CSR related literature to analyse the conceptual development of the notion of CSR.
They further make an in-depth analysis of the economic and social implications of the
CSR related practices to the organizations. The study was based on the companies listed
on the Spanish Stock Exchange and their websites were analysed to examine the
inclusion of CSR, corporate citizenship and sustainable development issues. It
emphasized the inclusion and importance of these issues on their websites.

CSR Communication through Annual Reports

Suárez-Serrano, E. (2009). The study was conducted on Spanish companies in the

tourism industry where the rationale for CSR becomes higher because society or
community is a part of the business activity and therefore companies involved in
tourism must take responsibility of the places their business focuses upon. There is
scanty literature available about the CSR practices in the hospitality industry. In Spain
only two hotels provided CSR related information on their websites and annual reports.
The analyses of the CSR related content on the websites and annual reports indicate that

54 
 
the hospitality industry lags way behind the other industries but their commitment is
firm and diverse CSR related activities are undertaken.

Azim, M. I.; Ahmed, S.; Islam, Md. S. (2009). The researcher have attempted at
investigating the CSR reporting practice in Bangladesh which is developing nation and
where CSR reporting is not mandatory by law and is a voluntary decision which
companies may make. The annual reports were analysed as a communication medium
and results indicated that only 15.45% of the companies in Bangladesh made CSR
disclosures. The nature and form of CSR reporting in listed companies was mapped to
conclude that banking sector ranked highest in matters of CSR reporting in Bangladesh
in 2007. Majority of the CSR disclosure was qualitative in nature and lacked to be
qualified by quantitative statistics. On an average amongst the listed companies in
Bangladesh, CSR reporting occupied less than half and majority of CSR related
communication featured in the director’s report which clearly indicates that CSR
reporting in Bangladesh is very scanty and leaves a lot to be desired both in terms of
quality and quantity of disclosure.

Waller, D. S. & Lanis, R. (2009). Annual report apart from being a medium of
mandatory financial reporting is also extensively used by corporate as a marketing tool
and since the business world has begun to recognize CSR as an important issue, several
companies including publicly listed companies and predominantly private enterprises
like the advertising agencies have begun to voluntarily report their CSR activities in
their annual reports. The researchers give due weight-age to the fact that advertising
agencies face huge criticisms on issue of business ethics and values yet they argue that
CSR activities undertaken by advertising agencies can help in reflecting the positive
side of the agency’s business as well which largely remains underplayed. The study
analysed the annual reports of the top six global advertising agencies to understand the
major CSR activities which the advertising agencies undertake and the focus area of
communication so that a CSR disclosure index could be developed to measure the
effectiveness of the CSR disclosure of the advertising agencies based on discourse
theory. The results of the study indicate that some advertising agencies engage in CSR
activities and disclose them in their annual reports and there is no systematic CSR

55 
 
reporting structure across the industry and CSR related communication appears in
different sections in the annual reports.

Sweeney, L. & Coughlan, J. (2008). The research paper confirms the view that CSR is
becoming increasingly a part of the business activities around the globe and most
corporate are realizing the benefits of CSR reporting and communication and use
various channels for CSR reporting. Annual reports are one such medium, content of
which is analysed by in this paper. The prime objective being to understand the
motivation of CSR communication and the role stakeholder consideration plays in the
communication. The results show that various industries adopt varying CSR reporting
practices but what remains common is the stakeholder view irrespective of the industry
type indicated by the fact that the company’s engage in and communicate what the
stakeholders expect irrespective of the fluidity of the concept. Therefore stakeholder
satisfaction does seem to remain at the core of the CSR communication made through
annual reports providing evidence that CSR reporting is also used by corporate as a
marketing tool.

Amran, A. & Devi, S. S. (2007). CSR disclosure in Malaysia is studied to understand

the role of government in the development of CSR reporting in Malaysia. Annual
reports of 201 public listed companies operating in Malaysia were analysed. The results
show a strong significance of governmental shareholding and dependence on the
government on CSR reporting. The governmental agencies play a very crucial role in
encouraging CSR reporting and therefore for CSR reporting to be encouraged it is
important that the governmental agencies should be inclined. The prime reason for the
dependence of CSR reporting on governmental agencies is that the institutionalization
of CSR practices can be spearheaded and will receive a thrust by the government’s
aspiration and vision pertaining to social and environmental issues. It was found that the
employee and environmental related issues were the most commonly reported CSR
themes in the annual reports studied and the governmental policies too were found to be
supporting them immensely.

56 
 
 CSR Communication through Sustainability Reports

Perego, P. (2009). This research study works on the verification and authentication
systems used by firms for their sustainability reports which are increasing in numbers
over years. The reasons and impact of choosing different assurance providers though
logical regression analysis applied on the sustainability reports of 136 companies it can
be concluded that firms based out of countries which have a weak governance system
are more likely to hire the big-4 accounting firms as assurance provider. An association
between the type of assurance provider and the quality of assurance statement was
studied using content analysis to indicate that the big-4 accounting firms have a positive
impact in terms of the format used for reporting and the assurance procedures. Inversely
the quality of recommendations and opinions in sustainability assurance statements
shows a higher positive association with the non-accounting assurance providers.

Quaak, L.; Aalbers, T. & Goedee, J. (2007). The role sustainability reporting plays on
CSR performance is understood to be positive and therefore a high degree of
transparency in sustainability reporting (SR) is expected. SR should include information
required by customers in the decision making process of buying sustainable products.
CSR and sustainability reporting at seven breweries in Netherlands was used to
understand the factors which governed organizational behaviour regarding their CSR
and sustainability reporting. Results suggest that the organizational view about CSR and
sustainability is that sustainability reporting does not have a deep impact on the
stakeholders because they find the CSR related information from other sources like the
annual reports, meetings, public statements and press releases. The small firms do pay
importance to CSR activities but they do not find stimulation in the external business
environment to publish sustainability reports as the Dutch Government does not intend
to make sustainability reporting mandatory and publishing the report is a complex and
an expensive proposition as well. The large firms do feel an inconsistent and irregular
pressure from stakeholders to be transparent on account of which CSR-sustainability
reporting is low. Further, CSR activities and sustainability reporting do not have any
impact of each other and both are neutral to one another.

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Ferns, B.; Emelianova, O.& Sethi, S.P. (2008). The writers have established the
growth of the non-financial reports which have been published in the last decade and
the various nomenclatures which have been attached to these reports range from
corporate social responsibility report, global citizenship report or sustainability report.
But irrespective of the name under which these reports are released these reports are a
platform for the firms to demonstrate to people at large the positive responsible
corporate citizenship conduct. But deeply researched association about the ability of
these reports to positively persuade the intended audience is missing and therefore the
paper explores the role of CSR-sustainability reporting and its role in corporate
reputation management especially the role that senior corporate executive acting as a
spokesperson on behalf of the firms and conveying the image of being a good corporate
or global citizen.

Hedberg, C-J.; Von-Malmborg, F. (2003). The paper is based upon the study of
Swedish companies where sensitivity to environmental reporting is very high. Through
this paper the use of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for CSR reporting in terms of
sustainability reporting is specifically focused at. The research explores the reason for
the adoption of GRI guidelines by companies and in turn the impact the guidelines have
had on CSR reporting and environmental management. Focused interview was used as
the research technique for study and the results showed that legitimacy was one of the
big reasons for the use of GRI along with the fact the GRI guidelines also helped in
providing a structural framework for the sustainability reports. Further, GRI guidelines
are found to be handier for internal communication than external communication as a
lot of debate still exists in the completeness of the GRI guidelines. A key benefit in
internal communication is that the organizations are able to gauge their own
performance in terms of the CSR related activities. Over a period of time GRI would
find a stronger hold in triple bottom line reporting as well but there needs to further
development and improvisation in the guidelines.

CSR Communication through Press Release

Reinig, C. J. & Tilt, C. A. (2009). The study analysed the use of media releases in the
marketing and communications of CSR made by four major Australian national banks.

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Content analysis is used as the research methodology to measure the extent and the
nature of CSR communication and understand the specific stakeholders targeted by the
banks through their CSR communication. The findings indicate that majority of the
banks used media as a channel for CSR communication and the most commonly
discussed CSR issues communicated through press releases is community involvement
followed by customers as a stakeholder. The other stakeholders like employees and
shareholders are not targeted through the media releases.

Bollinger, L. (2001). The article is aimed at developing a measure through the impact
measurement of the media releases made in USA. Here the press releases were
understood to be the most important media tool which enjoys a deep impact and
influence on the opinion making of the people at large. The ‘dynamic social impact
theory’ (DSIT) has been used in the past and it was found that as against several other
measures the DSIT was found to be the best measure based on which a scoring method
was generated.

Seidler, L.J. & Lebar, M.A. (1982). The writers conducted the research to study the
consistency between the language used in the financial press releases and the year end
results declared through annual reports and form 10-K. A high degree of consistency
was seen in the linguistic qualities such as completeness, qualification, reporting of
facts against generalizations and the use of propagandist words. A similar appeal and
tone was reflected in press releases as it was in form 10-K. The language of the press
releases matched to that of the form 10-K as against that used by the professional or
governmental institutions. The understanding of a form of communication as readable
depends upon the format of presentation of the document. High degree of consistency in
usefulness of information, quality of language and the timeliness was noticed between
the press releases and 10-K.

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