Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has grown rapidly during the past 50 years both in academia and industry. Corporate social responsibilities initiatives are composed of economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities, such as producing quality products, treating employees fairly, and involving in local community. Corporate philanthropic disaster response is a common form of CSR practice and its communication to the public is normally achieved by public relations function. This study focused on how local Chinese and multinational companies in China communicated their disaster relief initiatives after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Quantitative and qualitative content analysis was conducted of sampled press releases regarding the Sichuan earthquake on corporate websites in terms of their communication techniques and corporate philanthropic disaster response presented. Comparisons were made between local Chinese and multinational companies operating in China and it was concluded that local Chinese and multinational companies presented more differences than similarities in the purpose of press releases, type of disaster relief efforts, partnership with outside organizations, multimedia elements, and supplementary information. By understanding these differences in corporate philanthropic disaster response presented online, this study had implications for governments and non-profit organizations to better motivate businesses to participate in the disaster relief efforts. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research were included.

<p>This paper will from a managerial perspective investigate the function of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) as a strategic tool for companies operating in Indonesia.Another aspect this paper will discuss is different views on CSR and what positive aswell as negative aspects CSR brings. The country was first in the world to state a lawregarding CSR performance in 2007, which makes CSR mandatory for all companiesusing natural resources in some way. This issue complicates CSR matters in Indonesiasince the law is vague regarding what is considered as a natural resource. Furthermore,this paper will display how companies using CSR relate themselves totheir stakeholders and in what way they operate in order to fulfil and satisfy differentstakeholders’ needs and demands. It will also discuss which stakeholder is consideredto be the most important and influential regarding a company’s CSR activities.Findings in this thesis show that CSR among companies is used as a strategy in orderto gain legitimacy from the society to be able to do business and operate in theseareas. Further, using CSR will create competitive advantages towards non-users anda company will increase its reputation as well as image.</p>

Klimat- och miljöhänsyn, arbetsförhållanden, att de mänskliga rättigheterna efterlevs och välgörenhet är frågor som på senare år blivit alltmer omdiskuterade. Detta har skapat en ökad medvetenhet och kunskap och högre krav ställs på företag att agera ansvarsfullt inom dessa områden. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) är ett begrepp som innebär att på ett aktivt sätt ta samhällsansvar, utöver vad lagar och regler säger. Enligt den svenska regeringen är Sverige ett land som har en stark internationell trovärdighet när det gäller att ta detta samhällsansvar och många svenska företag har ett välutvecklat CSR-arbete. I Sverige finns även många framstående och duktiga modedesigners, vars tillverkning sällan sker i Sverige, utan mycket av produktionen utkontrakteras. De senaste åren har alltfler företag börjat se sig om efter externa producenter i andra länder, i ett försök att etablera sig på andra marknader och få billigare produktion. Då ett företag använder sig av en utomstående producent vill man att denne ska uppfylla de krav man har för att produkten ska överensstämma med de visioner man har som företag. Det kan då ibland vara svårt att kontrollera när man befinner sig långt ifrån varandra geografiskt och kräver därför mycket resurser och planering av företaget. En viktig del i ett aktivt CSR-arbete är att sköta inköp inom ramen för detta, då man har en skyldighet att säkerställa sig själv om att de varor som produceras och säljs representerar de värderingar företaget står för. Vårt syfte är därför att genom en fallstudie beskriva hur företagen Weekday Brands AB och Odd Molly International AB arbetar med CSR och om detta arbete påverkar deras inköpsprocesser av kläder. För att söka svar på detta har ett antal olika intervjuer genomförts, vars resultat har analyserats utifrån teoretiska modeller om CSR och inköpsprocesser. Våra slutsatser är att båda företagen använder CSR som en intern samt extern strategi. De försöker i sitt arbete efterleva sina uppförandekoder och CSR-arbete genom avtal med alla sina producenter. Därtill genomför de kontroller via egna kontrollanter och personliga besök på tillverkningsfabrikerna. Det innebär att de lägger ner ett arbete vid inköpsprocessen i att säkerställa sig om att deras produkter svarar på deras krav utifrån CSR.

Sociala och miljömässiga faktorer har kommit att få allt större betydelse för företag i såväl deras verksamhet som för deras fortlevnad. Medvetenheten kring ansvarsfullt företagande har ökat på dagens marknad och med avseende på lönsamhet och marknadsvärde är syftet med denna uppsats att undersöka huruvida betydelsen för Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) har ökat. Undersökningen genomförs genom att testa korrelationen mellan CSR och lönsam-het (ROA) respektive marknadsvärde (E/P-tal), för företag noterade på Stockholmsbörsen mellan åren 2006 och 2009. För att ytterligare kunna uttala oss om huruvida sambandet mel-lan CSR och lönsamhet stärkts över perioden genomförs Fishers Z-transformation, där likhe-ten mellan korrelationskoefficienter testas. Resultaten för undersökningen påvisar ett positivt samband mellan CSR och lönsamhet, men däremot ges inget stöd för att sambandet mellan CSR och lönsamhet stärkts över den undersökta perioden. För sambandet mellan CSR och marknadsvärde visar resultaten i huvudsak på ett nollsamband, då korrelationen för samtliga år rör sig kring noll. De återfunna sambanden i denna undersökning förklaras med skillnader i branschtillhörighet och företagsstorlek för de undersökta företagen, men även att landsspeci-fika och konjunkturmässiga aspekter har påverkan. Trots avsaknaden av statistiskt bevis kommer vi till slutsatsen att betydelsen av CSR har ökat med avseende på lönsamhet, då andra faktorer tyder på en ökad betydelse. För marknadsvärde kan däremot inga sådana slut-satser dras. / Owing to growing awareness concerning responsible actions in the market-place the purpose of this essay is to investigate whether the importance of CSR has increased. The survey is carried out by testing the correlation between CSR and profitability (ROA) and between CSR and market value (E/P), for companies listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange between year 2006 and 2009. To further investigate whether the relationship between CSR and profitability has strengthen Fishers Z-transformation is conducted to test the similarity between correlation coefficients. The results of the study shows that a positive relationship exists between CSR and profitability, but there is no statistical evidence that the relationship between CSR and profitability has strengthen over the period. Concerning the relationship between CSR and market value the result of the survey shows a correlation around zero for the period and therefore we conclude that there is a zero correlation between CSR and market value. The relationships of this study can be explained by differences in industry affiliation and company size, as well as country and cyclical aspects. We come to the conclusion that, in terms of CSR and profitability, the importance of CSR has increased over the period investigated. However, concerning CSR and market value no general conclusions can be drawn.

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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) har fått en allt större roll under senare år. Fler och fler företag ser värdet av och engagerar sig i frågor rörande miljö, samhälle och socialt ansvarstagande. Under många år har det förts en debatt kring huruvida engagemang i dessa frågor kan ha påverkan på lönsamheten i företag och i så fall vilka samband som finns. Resultaten av tidigare studier har varit olika och ingen tydlig slutsats har kunnat dras. Den här studien syftar till att försöka svara på om CSR har inverkan på företags lönsamhet. En kvantitativ metod valdes för att om möjligt nå generaliserbarhet. Tre nyckeltal från 24 svenska börsnoterade företag under fyra räkenskapsår har studerats och jämförts med en betygsättning från Folksam där företagen graderats utifrån hur väl de presterat inom området CSR. Resultatet blev ett positivt samband med räntabilitet på eget kapital, inget tydligt med räntabilitet på totalt kapital och negativt samband med vinstmarginal. Totalt sett i studien fastställdes därför inget samband. / Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has grown in importance during the last years. More and more companies is recognizing the benefits of and is involving in matters concerning environment, society and social responsibilities. It has during many years been a debate whether there is a link between these questions and financial performance and in that case how this link looks like. The results of the previous studies have not been uniform and no real conclusion has been drawn. This study aims to examine if CSR has effect on profitability by a quantitative method. Three financial ratios from four financial years from 24 swedish public listed companies has been collected. This has been compared with a grade system from Folksam where the companies have been judged from their performance within the CSR area. The result was a positive relation to return on equity, no obvious relation to return on total assets and a negative relation to profit margin. Thus, no relation was found seen to the study as a whole.

During the last 15 years, due to several social conflicts generated by mining operations in Peru, mining has reshaped its performance from a questionable activity to an accountable one. Corporate Social Responsibility (hereafter CSR) has represented the approach to do this reshaping. In that sense, idea of mining CSR represents how corporations ought to interact responsibly with society. Then, society expects that mining corporations ought to act correctly, guided by the CSR frame that represents the assumption of the correct way to behave. However, mining CSR framework must be accepted for the corporation as well as for society, which might be affected by the corporate actions guided by the framework, mainly the local community. The way mining CSR will be accepted is through dialogue between corporations and stakeholders. Thereby, CSR would imply that corporations should consider what society expects as a responsible performance to be part of the way they ought to act through dialogue and mutual understanding.

Title Corporate Social Responsibility in Branding - A study of The Body Shop's visitors' attitudes and  purchase decisions Authors Sara Lundgren El-Salhy &amp; Amanda Lundmark Seminar Date 2009-06-02 Level C-level Thesis Tutor Malin Näsholm Keywords CSR, The Body Shop, Corporate Identity, Corporate Image, Associations, Attitudes, Purchase Decision Problem Previous research suggests that by using well known CSR as a branding tool, companies can create positive consumer attitudes, and these attitudes are assumed to lead to positive purchase decisions. This study aims to test this connection, when CSR is well known, by answering the following problem question: What are the opinions and attitudes among The Body Shop Umeå's visitors towards The Body Shop and CSR, and how do they perceive the company regarding CSR? Are their purchase decisions affected by these opinions and attitudes? Purpose To explore the importance of a well-known CSR; to find what attitudes consumers have towards CSR and a company with well-known CSR, and to look at these attitudes' relation to the consumers' purchase decision. Methodology A quantitative, deductive study is conducted, where the theory is tested. The data is collected by handing out self-completion questionnaires to The Body Shop visitors in Umeå. Results &amp; Conclusion This study shows that The Body Shop visitors in Umeå think that CSR is important when buying cosmetics. The respondents have positive attitudes towards The Body Shop and these positive attitudes can be connected to The Body Shop's CSR. The positive attitudes can also be connected to positive purchase decisions. A conclusion that can be drawn from these findings is that well known CSR can be connected to positive purchase decisions, if the CSR is trustworthy. This conclusion can, however, only be generalized to the population for this study; the visitors to The Body Shop's store in Umeå. Number of Pages 57 Number of References 40

Background: The debate about environment, labor conditions and aid to developing countries has the last years been a much discussed subject The pressure on the companies to live up to their responsibility is beginning to be noticed in the market. Purpose: To find out if a retail company investing in Corporate Social Responsibility thereby direct can effect it’s stock value. Using interviews to investigate if and how stock analysts and corporate finance professionals valuate a company’s CSR initiatives. Theoretical perspective: The description of CSR is leading to the main theory, The Brand Value Change, and the Market Hypothesis. Additionally a theory of the Consumer Buying Process and CAPM-model about financial risks is presented. Method: An event study of 30 companies to investigate if there is any change in their stock values and interviews with three professionals from the financial sector to find out about their attitude to CSR. A examine of the companies’ β-value was made to get an idea of the risk level in their shares. Results: The result of the event study indicates that there is now clear change in the share value when positive news about the company’s CSR- work are published. Empirical: In the financial sector CSR was discussed a few years ago but today the interest is very limited. CSR- work can however have an indirect effect on stock prices due to consumer reactions. Conclusions: The investors do not have any direct interest in the company’s commitment to CSR, but CSR may have an indirect effect on stock prices if the consumers make an active choice as a result of their opinion of the company’s brand. A company’s brands and products are strengthened in the market place by CSR- engagement, mainly if the CSR- engagement is related to the core business.

There is a shift of values in the Western society of today from material to immaterial values Löhman and Steinholtz (2003). This changes together with the interest among people in Sweden and in the rest of the Western world to travel and experience new cultures the developing world has come closer. This has raised the awareness of the role of companies re-garding social responsibility since most companies have suppliers, producers or some other kind of involvement in developing countries. Today several companies are engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues. However, the topic of CSR has to a large extent divided a large part of the Swedish business world due to the strong opinions regarding this topic. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the concept of CSR is perceived by Swedish corporations and what implications it yields. This will be done by comparing the views of three different groups: managers in Swedish small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) and managers of Swedish large sized enterprises (LSE’s), responsible for CSR implementation, supplemented with the view of independent thinkers. To perform the study a qualitative method has been used. Eleven interviews have been conducted with company representatives as well as independent thinkers that are involved in or have a great knowledge in the field of CSR. The respondents have been divided into three groups: ethically driven SME’s, LSE’s working with CSR and independent thinkers. The concept of corporate social responsibility is perceived very differently in between the three groups. The views are split regarding their fundamental understanding of CSR, which is reflected in their relation to stakeholders as well as their thoughts about the future development of CSR. The motives, ideological and commercial, for working with CSR also dif-fers and some external thinkers believe that there are no motives for engage in CSR at all. The ethically driven SME’s have built their core business on social responsibility and is therefore the backbone of the companies. The LSE’s core business is not built on social responsibility, but rather on demands from the customers, who they regard as a critical stakeholder group. Some of the independent thinkers instead adhere to the shareholder approach and reject the concept of CSR. Nevertheless, all of the respondents agree on why CSR has developed, which is due to globalisation.