Exploring two hotly contested issues, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the extractive industries, this report will demonstrate to a general reading audience the necessity of CSR as a business practice. The report finds that, given pressures from globalization and stakeholders, CSR is no longer an optional practice in the extractive industries but a business imperative. In general, why is CSR an important practice for businesses to adopt? In the extractive industries, what distinguishing CSR issues do they face, and how is CSR being propelled forwards in these industries? This report explores these questions and offers recommendations for policymakers and extractive companies on how to ensure CSR is implemented in a way that meets society’s great expectations. / text

Today, multinational corporations demonstrate commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by adopting global voluntary initiatives and codes of conduct and by publishing annual reports on their social behaviour. This research examines how the cross-­‐ country variation of CSR behaviour of firms can be explained by the ‘Varieties of Capitalism' theory, and explores whether the CSR behaviour of firms changes when operating across borders. A large-­‐N sample of the Fortune global 500 firms and a small-­‐N sample of five multinational oil companies operating in Nigeria were taken to test the research hypotheses, using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Some support was found for the Varieties of Capitalism theory. In particular, firms from the United States, a liberal market economy, are less likely to adopt global voluntary initiatives compared with firms from coordinated market economies or Mediterranean-­‐type economies. State-­‐owned firms, which are mainly headquartered in non-­‐OECD countries, are also less likely to adopt global initiatives, but the ones that do have high levels of adherence. External actors, such as international organisations, civil society organisations and philanthropic organisations are important in influencing a firm's commitment to CSR. Content analysis reveals that, in general, all corporations report on the same topics, with emphasis placed on what is perceived to be important to the stakeholders. This research found that the adoption of global initiatives and the reporting on social behaviour are headquarters-­‐orientated activities, and that there is often a disconnection in corporate social behaviour between the headquarters and the subsidiary. Because the CSR behaviour of firms clearly changes when operating across borders, the participation in voluntary initiatives should be done at a local and at headquarter level. Furthermore, the lack of participation in global initiatives by US firms and subsidiaries raises questions about the effectiveness and purpose of these initiatives.

A research report presented to The Department of Social Work School of Human and Community Development Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand In partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree Master of Arts in Social Development March, 2016 / Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is now moving beyond being peripheral to business to becoming an integral part of it. Although there is a sizeable amount of literature on CSR, there is still no standard and agreed definition of CSR. The way CSR must be implemented and evaluated also remains a topic of debate. This gap is problematic as increasingly governments are involving corporations to address the inequalities that exist in society. At the same time several studies suggest that organizations struggle to have robust and effective CSR practices within their organizations. In South Africa, several legislations have been put in place to indirectly involve the private sector to address the inequalities arising out of the Apartheid and the BBBEE Act of 2003 has been instrumental in shaping the developmental path of post-apartheid South Africa, thus making implementation and reporting of CSI initiatives more important than ever before. The study sought to explore the nature of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of the Sanlam Foundation in the Western Cape, South Africa. The study adopted a qualitative case study design and the study population consisted of officials drawn from Sanlam Foundation and its implementing organizations. Participants were drawn from Sanlam Foundation’s implementing partners and key informants who are senior officials of the Sanlam Foundation also participated in the study. A sample of eight participants and two key informants and were drawn using purposive sampling. Semi structured interview schedules were used to collect data using face to face interviews with both participants and key informants. The findings revealed that monitoring, evaluation and reporting of CSR initiatives remain the biggest challenge in implementing of CSR initiatives. The findings also establish that there remains a gap in the NGOs’ and funder’s understanding of the reporting content. Measuring and expressing qualitative impact is a challenge for NGOs. The report recommends that both funders and partners must understand the implications of monitoring and evaluation of programmes. It also emphasizes the need to have simplified discussions with partners at inception to understand their views and develop project specific reporting templates that justify project specific impact. It is anticipated that the research findings will enable Sanlam Foundation and other companies to strengthen their CSR activities.

<p>Den rekordartade tekniska utvecklingen som världen har utsatts för under de senaste 100 åren har lett till att vi nu får se dess negativa biverkningar, förstörelsen på vår natur. Detta har i sin tur lett till att organisationer fått upp ögonen för fördelarna som uppstår med att arbeta mot miljöförstörelsen. Nya organisationer och företag gör entré på marknaden hela tiden och alla, nya som gamla, spelar en stor roll för vår miljö. Genom att arbeta för en minskad miljöpåverkan kan en organisation inte endast skaffa sig konkurrensfördelar utan även skapa ett bättre samarbete med intressenter och sina anställda.</p><p>Denna framväxt av miljömedvetna organisationer gjorde det intressant för oss som författare att titta närmare på hur dessa organisationer använder sig av grön marknadsföring. Vi valde att applicera det på en kommun, nämligen Halmstad kommun. En kommun har, precis som ett företag, mål med sin verksamhet, och detta är oftast att skapa vinst och tillväxt. Vidare har samtliga marknadsföringsmässiga mål som skall ligga i linje med organisationens övergripande mål. Det var därför intressant för oss att se vad kommunen hade för marknadsföringsmässiga mål och om grön marknadsföring användes för att uppnå dessa. Vårt huvudproblem lyder enligt följande: ” Vad har Halmstad kommun för marknadsföringsmässiga mål och används grön marknadsföring för att nå dessa?” </p><p>Syftet med uppsatsen blir således att förklara, beskriva och undersöka vad Halmstad kommun har för marknadsföringsmässiga mål och om grön marknadsföring används för att uppnå dessa. Halmstad kommun är en ekokommun och vi vill även se om de kan dra någon nytta av det i sin marknadsföring. Metodkapitlet ger en närmare beskrivning kring hur vi rent praktiskt har gått tillväga med våra undersökningar. Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ ansats där vi har intervjuat åtta olika respondenter.</p><p>I den teoretiska referensramen behandlar vi relevanta teorier som vi anser oss behöva för att besvara vårt problem. Vi presenterar teorier kring begreppet Corporate Social Responsibility, grön marknadsföring, varumärke och ekokommun. I empiriavsnittet redogör vi för resultatet av intervjuerna som vi gjort med personer anställda på Halmstad kommun. Vidare i analyskapitlet ställs den insamlade teorin mot vår insamlade empiri. I det avslutande kapitlet, slutsats, görs en djupare analys där vi konstaterar att Halmstad kommun i allra högsta grad använder sig medvetet eller omedvetet av grön marknadsföring för att uppnå sina marknadsföringsmässiga mål. Vi lämnar även rekommendationer på hur kommunen kan öka sin grad av grön marknadsföring.</p>

Den rekordartade tekniska utvecklingen som världen har utsatts för under de senaste 100 åren har lett till att vi nu får se dess negativa biverkningar, förstörelsen på vår natur. Detta har i sin tur lett till att organisationer fått upp ögonen för fördelarna som uppstår med att arbeta mot miljöförstörelsen. Nya organisationer och företag gör entré på marknaden hela tiden och alla, nya som gamla, spelar en stor roll för vår miljö. Genom att arbeta för en minskad miljöpåverkan kan en organisation inte endast skaffa sig konkurrensfördelar utan även skapa ett bättre samarbete med intressenter och sina anställda. Denna framväxt av miljömedvetna organisationer gjorde det intressant för oss som författare att titta närmare på hur dessa organisationer använder sig av grön marknadsföring. Vi valde att applicera det på en kommun, nämligen Halmstad kommun. En kommun har, precis som ett företag, mål med sin verksamhet, och detta är oftast att skapa vinst och tillväxt. Vidare har samtliga marknadsföringsmässiga mål som skall ligga i linje med organisationens övergripande mål. Det var därför intressant för oss att se vad kommunen hade för marknadsföringsmässiga mål och om grön marknadsföring användes för att uppnå dessa. Vårt huvudproblem lyder enligt följande: ” Vad har Halmstad kommun för marknadsföringsmässiga mål och används grön marknadsföring för att nå dessa?” Syftet med uppsatsen blir således att förklara, beskriva och undersöka vad Halmstad kommun har för marknadsföringsmässiga mål och om grön marknadsföring används för att uppnå dessa. Halmstad kommun är en ekokommun och vi vill även se om de kan dra någon nytta av det i sin marknadsföring. Metodkapitlet ger en närmare beskrivning kring hur vi rent praktiskt har gått tillväga med våra undersökningar. Vi har använt oss av en kvalitativ ansats där vi har intervjuat åtta olika respondenter. I den teoretiska referensramen behandlar vi relevanta teorier som vi anser oss behöva för att besvara vårt problem. Vi presenterar teorier kring begreppet Corporate Social Responsibility, grön marknadsföring, varumärke och ekokommun. I empiriavsnittet redogör vi för resultatet av intervjuerna som vi gjort med personer anställda på Halmstad kommun. Vidare i analyskapitlet ställs den insamlade teorin mot vår insamlade empiri. I det avslutande kapitlet, slutsats, görs en djupare analys där vi konstaterar att Halmstad kommun i allra högsta grad använder sig medvetet eller omedvetet av grön marknadsföring för att uppnå sina marknadsföringsmässiga mål. Vi lämnar även rekommendationer på hur kommunen kan öka sin grad av grön marknadsföring.

Background: Most organizations rely on their information system on a daily basis to generate opportunities and advantages. Meanwhile, with the increasing emphasize on corporate social responsibility (CSR), more directors and CEOs are shifting their sights to CSR by developing business models that underline responsible and ethical disciplines for running businesses. However, studies that combine the analysis of IS and CSR are few. Therefore, the potential benefits of utilizing IS from a more intan-gible view, which means CSR in our case, are less likely be discovered. Besides, sen-ior managers have a hard time on shifting perceptions on CSR from being an add-on activity to be integrated in core operations of the organizations. Aim &amp; Purpose: The aim of our research is to investigate the functions that IS has in CSR management from managers' perspectives. As mentioned above, the main reason for con-duction this research is the existing knowledge gap through the subjects being investigated. The overall purpose for this study is to adopt EFQM Excellence Model and Work System Model to contribute to CSR value creation of the organization. Method: The current research approach is qualitative and a case study is applied as re-search strategy. Data collection is carried out by means of documents and interviews. Doc-uments include company annual reports and website information. Semi-structured inter-views are conducted with managers from Lasfosaringar Jokoping and PwC. Conclusions: The functions of IS in the management of CSR can be concluded into four aspects, which are information management, customer relationship management, monitor-ing daily affairs and corporate governance. Information system have changed the way data is being sorted, spread, disseminated and have accelerated the information exchange fre-quency in business operation. Those changes in turn reflect on the performance of cus-tomer, employee and corporate governance of the organization.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), originated from the West, has undergone significant changes along with time and context. Under the wave of globalization, it is imperative that corporate fulfill their social responsibilities worldwide. As various scholars hold different viewpoints, debates on the role of CRS and whether it is a positive or negative force continue to thrive. Based on the bipolarity, this paper analyzes the CSR in China, as well as its development and future perspectives. Mainland China (People's Republic of China) has become a focal point of global economic development in recent years, and this 'world factory' has a crucial role to play in the world's finance and industry chains. Corporate in China, therefore, cannot avoid being evolved in responsibilities in addition to making profits. The paper also made further observation on the change of corporate-social relations and drew conclusion of how Chinese corporate carry their social responsibilities. The paper began by analyzing the CSR of state-owned enterprises in the context of Chinese traditional planed economy; it then further looked into how the westernized concept evolved and developed during the economic reform in 1978 with the open policy for foreign direct investment (FDI), and how CSR in China was adapted in accordance with the ideology of socialism. The paper, through both domestic and international literature reviews, aimed to examine the course of evolution of CSR in China. Major case studies were utilized to describe the diversity of CSR development in China, and for comparison between CSR in China and that in the West.

Abstract The social responsibility for enterprise is an important and crucial topic nowadays. Every enterprise can hardly avoid the issue. Enterprises are not only to fulfill the obligation of a social citizen, but also to further concern the people in the community, solve social problems as well as give an active and automatic response to the request of community, If can take the responsibility for the community and keep a good relationship with the community, enterprise will have the advantage of surviving in the community for a long term and preserve the competitive strength to run business. A poll among enterprises is carried out through papers in the research. After the analysis of the poll, several conclusions are reached as follows¡G 1.Generally, there is no much difference in the performance of social responsibility for the scale and class of enterprise and the background of entrepreneur. 2.Whether an enterprise participates charity groups or not will show a pronounced difference in the performance of social responsibility. The enterprise taking part in charity groups exhibit a better performance than the enterprise without joining charity groups. 3.The enterprises participating in charity groups have better performance in terms of profit , revenue and the growth of employee. 4.According to the research, the performance of social responsibility for small and middle enterprise can be classified as the passive, the in-between, the active. The percentage of passivity is 31.71% and the average score on the basis of maximum 5 is 3.25. The percentage of in-between is 35.61% and the average score is 3.73. The percentage of activity is 32.68% and the average score is 4.09. The total percentage for enterprises being active and in-between is 68.29% and the average score is 3.91. Therefore, the performance of social responsibility for small and middle enterprise tends to be active.

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This thesis provides a historical overview of the conventional business model for CSR as well as a more critical political economy perspective. It draws on critical scholars to help advance the understanding of the legitimating role that CSR plays in advancing private authority as a significant method of regulating corporations and the global political economy through flexible and nonbinding regulations as an alternative to state legislation. This thesis explores the development and implementation of Nike’s Codes of Conduct in contract apparel factories in the Maquiladoras in Mexico. Specifically, it investigates the application of Nike’s Code of Conduct to determine if the company is adhering to its own CSR policies and initiatives by focusing on Nike’s internal reports. It concludes that corporate self regulation produces limited results for alleviating poor working conditions for Nike apparel contract workers in the Maquiladoras. / Graduate