The aim of this PhD research project was to critically examine the self-reported socially-responsible activities of European full-service and low-fares airlines. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept that has been described using many terms and with varying definitions. Broadly, it is the recognition that businesses should voluntarily mitigate and manage their externalities. CSR has been touted by businesses and governments alike as a preferred alternative to regulation. This research looked at the self-reported CSR approaches of the European airline sector, which has historically been heavily regulated and is currently facing increasing pressures regarding its impacts on CSR- and sustainability-related concerns. Low cost carriers have been under particular scrutiny for their impacts, and therefore, this research compared the CSR approaches of the two dominant airline business models in Europe: low cost and full service models. The sample consisted of 21 full service and 13 low cost carriers with headquarters in Europe. Mixed qualitative methods were applied to 566 secondary documents (websites, press releases, annual reports, and standalone CSR reports) and 15 elite interviews with airline managers. A range of established CSR indicators were assessed, including: definitions, reported practices, motivations and justifications for CSR activities, and CSR management and monitoring. Much of what the airlines reported as their CSR was at odds with academic and governmental definitions; as a whole, they placed considerable emphasis on environmental issues and adhering to regulations. This study also found that the CSR practices were closely correlated with business practices and key sector issues – an understanding of CSR that is most compatible with stakeholder theory-based conceptualisations. Business models on their own were found to be an overly-simplistic explanation for the wide variances of practice that were found in the sample. Instead, four ‘profiles of responsibility’ were identified, which better captured the differences in practices.

The main goal of this Diploma thesis is to find out, on the basis of research, how the companies from Czech and Slovak Republic perceive and apply in praxis the concept of corporate social responsibility. The work consists of theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part is included in the first three chapters. The first chapter defines the term CSR and illustrates the historical development of social responsibility. The second chapter presents various theories and approaches in the area of CSR, describes the main as well as alternative concepts of CSR, advantages and disadvantages for the firm which decides to behave socially responsibly. It also mentions the approach of the European Union and the debate if the concept of CSR should still remain voluntary. The third chapter is focused on CSR in the company's praxis. It describes the pillars of CSR, explains the terms like corporate ethics or corporate philanthropy as well as the instruments for measurement and evaluation of corporate social responsibility. The practical part is contained in the last fourth chapter. It follows the done research among the companies from Czech and Slovak republic which main aim is to find out if there exist some differences in approach to CSR among the companies on the basis of their owner's structure, size or branch of enterprise. Consequently, the conclusions about the posture and an approach of Czech and Slovak companies are done from the results of research. It also emphasizes the areas where the companies do very well and areas where exists a space for an improvement.

<p>Today, companies permanently need to implement solutions aimed at generating competitive advantage that allow them to survive and be successful in ever changing and demanding markets. Therefore, to focus on customers is a common denominator for organizations, aiming to meet their needs and satisfy their expectations.</p><p>In this context, society has become one of the players as one of the actors that highly influence corporate behavior. Communities have expressed more mistrust of corporations' because of various scandals. This has put business ethics in the spot light influencing companies to be good corporate citizens, respecting the law but also to create good social values and principles. Today, the level of demand goes beyond the direct impact of the organizations business to also incorporate how corporations can contribute to societal and environmental causes. For corporations, these activities are manifested through the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). However, from a corporate perspective, it is difficult to measure if these changes can have a positive impact on a firm. Instead, these contributory practices are mainly measurable from a philanthropic perspective.</p><p>Therefore, it occurs to be a divergence between the concepts of competitiveness and business ethics which consequently raised our research question: <em>How do large corporations, involved in philanthropic CSR projects, value the outcome of these projects?</em></p><p>Our purpose with this thesis is to identify how corporations can increase their competitive advantage by supporting philanthropic projects. In order to achieve this, we have conducted a qualitative study where the collection of the empirical data was done through semi-structured interviews with three big corporations. These firms are all services providing companies who support social/philanthropic projects. This support is assisted by a non-profit organization that deals with social projects around the world while at the same time creates social commitment among corporations.</p><p>In the theoretical framework, we have presented the concepts of competitive advantage, business ethics, branding, stakeholders and CSR as main theoretic pillars. The thesis also includes theories that relate these theories to each other, such as “Corporations and Society” and “CSR and Competitiveness”.</p><p>In previous frameworks we found that there is a gap related to how theories describe the link between ethics and competitiveness in contemporary organizations.</p><p>Finally in the analysis section we linked the empirical findings to presented theories and ultimately created a framework showing the correlation between competitiveness and business ethics and CSR. The main conclusions are that business ethics and competitiveness can be linked and bridged by the concept of CSR. Unlike previous theories we concluded that these two concepts are compatible which means that it is possible to get competitive advantage by pursuing social objectives.</p>

Today, companies permanently need to implement solutions aimed at generating competitive advantage that allow them to survive and be successful in ever changing and demanding markets. Therefore, to focus on customers is a common denominator for organizations, aiming to meet their needs and satisfy their expectations. In this context, society has become one of the players as one of the actors that highly influence corporate behavior. Communities have expressed more mistrust of corporations' because of various scandals. This has put business ethics in the spot light influencing companies to be good corporate citizens, respecting the law but also to create good social values and principles. Today, the level of demand goes beyond the direct impact of the organizations business to also incorporate how corporations can contribute to societal and environmental causes. For corporations, these activities are manifested through the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). However, from a corporate perspective, it is difficult to measure if these changes can have a positive impact on a firm. Instead, these contributory practices are mainly measurable from a philanthropic perspective. Therefore, it occurs to be a divergence between the concepts of competitiveness and business ethics which consequently raised our research question: How do large corporations, involved in philanthropic CSR projects, value the outcome of these projects? Our purpose with this thesis is to identify how corporations can increase their competitive advantage by supporting philanthropic projects. In order to achieve this, we have conducted a qualitative study where the collection of the empirical data was done through semi-structured interviews with three big corporations. These firms are all services providing companies who support social/philanthropic projects. This support is assisted by a non-profit organization that deals with social projects around the world while at the same time creates social commitment among corporations. In the theoretical framework, we have presented the concepts of competitive advantage, business ethics, branding, stakeholders and CSR as main theoretic pillars. The thesis also includes theories that relate these theories to each other, such as “Corporations and Society” and “CSR and Competitiveness”. In previous frameworks we found that there is a gap related to how theories describe the link between ethics and competitiveness in contemporary organizations. Finally in the analysis section we linked the empirical findings to presented theories and ultimately created a framework showing the correlation between competitiveness and business ethics and CSR. The main conclusions are that business ethics and competitiveness can be linked and bridged by the concept of CSR. Unlike previous theories we concluded that these two concepts are compatible which means that it is possible to get competitive advantage by pursuing social objectives.

This thesis discusses how IKEA perceive and use concept of Sustainable Development and relates it with consumption. For that purpose, an online-survey was undertaken with the aim to see how IKEA´s customers perceive IKEA´s philanthropic activities in developing countries and how these activities influence on their consumption patterns and ideas of inter-generational justice. Besides that, a critical discourse analysis is performed with the intention to gain insight into IKEA´s communication of sustainable discourse focusing on the text and external communication from IKEA. The results from critical discourse analysis and online-survey showed that IKEA is shifting its position toward sustainability discourse and changing its business model, while at same time IKEA is penetrating into new markets and reaching new consumption under cover of corporate philanthropy. The online survey showed that IKEA´s customers stated a strong expression of necessary presence of inter-generational justice in developing countries. Intergenerational justice represents the moral obligations toward present, but also toward future generations. IKEA´s philanthropic activities in developing countries, on the other hand, were appraised as weak by survey respondents. One of the conclusions this thesis is that IKEA´s incorporation of Sustainable Development is associated with challenges. IKEA´s communication of corporate sustainable development effects on customers’ consumption pattern motivating them to buy and consume more IKEA´s products. IKEA´s philanthropic activities in developing countries are not sufficient enough. Survey respondents evaluated that donation efforts are not sufficient. Ideally, it is assumed that IKEA as a part of corporate sustainable development should promote less consumption and invest more in sustainable use and protection of natural resources with the aim to reach inter-generational justice as well as to incorporate Sustainable Development into its discourse and practice.

The theses works with company social responsibility in a banking sector, it's reporting and with a way it influences total brand value. The theoretical part is focused on description of social responsibility and company's philantropy with a emphasis on it's benefits for a company. Special parts are dedicated to possibilities of brand value evaluation and also to a new EU directive on non-profit report. Practical part of the research is focused on Česká spořitelna, her activities in the field and it's management. The author measures an influence of ČS CSR activities on general brand awareness among both groups employees and customers. The author uses explorative probe. The author also offers some recommendations for more effective CSR management and it's use for brand value strengthening based on the results of the research.

Corporate volunteering as part of corporate social responsibility is gaining in popularity. So far, research has focused on aspects of motivating corporate volunteers or the link between volunteering and social responsibility. The choice of a non-profit organization that the company will support within the framework of corporate volunteering and the activities that are offered to employees to participate are topics that have only been marginally affected by research. Appropriate cooperation with a non-profit organization and the offer of activities are, however, the key to effective volunteering. The research aim of the empirical survey was to find out how companies select non-profit organizations to support in corporate volunteering. The aim was also to identify corporate volunteering activities and communication channels from the perspective of companies and volunteers. The survey was conducted with two groups of respondents, with companies and volunteers. The questionnaire method was used for data collection. Six hypotheses were defined, two of which were confirmed. The results showed that the choice of non-profit organization and activities influence the wishes of employees. Companies select non-profit organizations primarily based on the subject of their activity and most often use manual...

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The thesis deals with the concept of corporate philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility. Our goal is to review the state of corporate philanthropy and CSR in SHP Harmanec, JSC, to explore, by a questionnaire research, the attitudes of young people to 30 years and to draw recommendations for the streamlining of corporate philanthropy in the company. Using the synthesis of the research`s results, it aims to design communication activities, which could present the philanthropic activities to this target group. The work is divided into 9 chapters in two parts. The first theoretical and methodological part summarizes available literature on corporate philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility. The second analytical part analyzes the company SHP Harmanec, JSC, and examines the attitudes, opinions and motivations of the young people to 30 years on the issue of corporate philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility. Proposal on streamlining corporate philanthropy and suggestions of the best communication activities, which could present the philanthropic activities of the company to the young, are the result.

O objetivo principal desta pesquisa é compreender o processo de institucionalização da prática de incidência nas políticas educacionais das organizações do Investimento Social Privado (ISP) brasileiro. Para atingir seus objetivos institucionais, como a abrangência e o impacto em educação, as organizações do ISP, de forma direta ou indiretamente, tiveram que aprender e se estruturar para lidar com as políticas públicas dessa área. A compreensão da intersecção do ISP e o Estado por si só é interessante, entretanto o recorte adotado na pesquisa visou entender as alternativas encontradas pelas organizações para passar de atuações pontuais, com projetos próprios na área de educação, para ações estruturadas que buscam incidir efetivamente nas políticas públicas educacionais de âmbito municipal, estadual e federal. O recorte adotado na pesquisa buscou caracterizar esse fenômeno por meio da análise do campo organizacional do ISP em políticas educacionais e aprofundou-se nas estruturas e práticas de três organizações de destaque do campo: Fundação Lemann, Instituto Natura e Instituto Unibanco. A Teoria Institucional, como lente analítica, permitiu analisar quais são os elementos organizacionais que favorecem ou constrangem a institucionalização da prática do ISP alinhado com políticas públicas, bem como qual o lugar dessa prática no campo organizacional do ISP. Para esse objetivo, foram mobilizados os conceitos de campo organizacional e processo de institucionalização de práticas. A pesquisa sistematiza as principais contribuições da literatura para compreensão do fenômeno e sua configuração atual, assim como esquematiza as principais dimensões das práticas em sedimentação e os processos de legitimação relacionados. Este trabalho conclui que o alinhamento do ISP às políticas públicas é uma prática em estágio de institucionalização e, portanto, merece maior atenção da academia e da sociedade, para sua compreensão, bem como de suas potenciais consequências para a sociedade brasileira por meio de um olhar não polarizado e crítico / The main objective of this research is to understand the institutionalization process of the incidence in the educational policies adopted by the corporate philanthropy (CP) organizations in Brazil. This present study covered how the CP organizations directly or indirectly had to learn and structure themselves to deal with public policies in order to achieve the institutional goals with a huge impact on education. A better comprehension of the intersection between the CP and the Government is in itself an interesting subject of study, however, the emphasis of this research is focused on understanding the alternatives found by organizations to move from one-off activities with their own projects in the education area to structured actions that seek to effectively influence public educational policies of municipal, state and federal scope. For the purpose of characterizing this phenomenon, the organizational field of CP was analyzed and it was deepened in the structure and practices of 3 prominent organizations in the field: the Fundação Leman, Instituto Natura and Instituto Unibanco. As an analytical view, the Institutional Theory, allowed to analyze which are the organizational advances or constrain elements of institutionalization process of ISP practice concerning public policies, as well as to understand the role of this practice in the organizational field of the CP. For this purpose, the concepts of organizational field and process of institutionalization of practices were adopted. The research has systematized the main contributions of the literature to understand the phenomenon and the current configuration, as well as schematized the main dimensions of sedimentation practices and legitimation processes. This study has concluded that the CP alignment with public policies is a practice in the stage of institutionalization, and therefore it deserves greater attention from academics and society for its understanding and its potential consequences for Brazilian society through an unpolarized and critical view