CSR: Does One Size Fit All

  • Professor Anand Choudhary Amity University, Patna
Keywords: CSR, MNCs, Local Communities, Poverty, Development

Abstract

As multinational corporations (MNCs) increasingly shift base to developing countries they are also required to manage different demands from various stakeholder groups in those countries which often creates a dilemma in front of the managers on whether to follow the corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies of their home-country or to tailor it according to the demands and expectations of local stakeholder groups including local communities in regions where the MNC operates. The current article examines how the managers of the MNCs operating in developing countries may manage the different needs and expectations of various stakeholder groups whilst advocating that one size fits all approach for CSR does not work. The results indicate that today it’s increasingly being expected by communities and policymakers that the large profit making MNCs should also contribute towards reducing poverty especially in developing countries and it is in businesses’ long-term interest to contribute towards building human capital in developing economies where they operate as it will result in potentially millions of more customers for their products and services whilst improving the corporate or the brand image of the company in the eyes of the stakeholders and thus creating a win-win situation for all.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

References

Amadi, B.O. & Abdullah, H. (2012). Poverty Alleviation through Corporate Social Responsibility
in Niger Delta, Nigeria. Asian Social Science Vol. 8, No. 4;
pp. 1-11.
Argandona, A. & Hoivik, H. V. W. (2009). Corporate Social Responsibility: One Size Does Not Fit
All. Collecting Evidence from Europe. Journal of
Business Ethics, Vol. 89, Issue 3, pp. 221-234.
Baumuller, H., Husmann, C. & Braun, J.V. (2014). Innovative Business Approaches for the
Reduction of Extreme Poverty and Marginality?
J. von Braun and F.W. Gatzweiler (eds.),
Marginality Addressing the Nexus 331 of Poverty,
Exclusion and Ecology,
DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-7061-4_20. 
Bowen, H. R. (1953). Social responsibilities of the businessman. New York: Harper & Row.
Branco, M.C. & Rodrigues, L.L. (2007). Positioning Stakeholder Theory within the Debate on
Corporate Social Responsibility. Electronic Journal of
Business Ethics and Organization Studies Vol. 12, No. 1,
pp. 1-11
Blowfield, M. & Frynas, J.G. (2005). Setting New Agendas: critical perspectives on CSR in the
developing world, International Affairs 81, (3) pp. 499-513.
Carroll, A.B. (2015). Corporate social responsibility: The centerpiece of competing and
complementary frameworks
Carroll, A.B. & Shabana, K.M. (2010). The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility: A
Review of Concepts, Research and Practice. International
Journal of Management Reviews, DOI: 10.1111/ j.
1468-2370.2009.00275.x, pp. 85-105.
Carroll, A.B. (1991). The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral
Management of Organisational Stakeholders, Business Horizons, July -
August, pp. 39-48.
Carroll, A.B. (1979). A three dimensional conceptual model of corporate social performance,
Academy of Management Review, Vol. 4, pp. 497-505.
Crane, A., Matten, D. & Spence, L.J. (2013), Corporate Social Responsibility in a Global Context.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2322817
Davis, K. (1960). Can business afford to ignore social responsibilities? California Management
Review, Vol. 2, pp. 70-76.
Frederick, W.C. (1960). The growing concern over social responsibility, California Business
Review, Vol. 2, pp. 54-61.
Fox, T. (2004).Corporate Social Responsibility and Development: In quest of an agenda.
Development 47(3), 29–36. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100064.
Jenkins, R. (2005). Globalization, Corporate Social Responsibility and poverty. International
Affairs, 81, 3, pp. 525-540.
Matten, D., & Moon, J. (2008), “Implicit” and “Explicit” CSR: A Conceptual Framework For a
Comparative Understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility.
Academy of Management Review, Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 404–424.
McGuire, J. W. (1963). Business and society. New York: McGraw-Hill.
 Muthuri, J.N., Moon, J. & Idemudia U. (2012), Corporate Innovation and Sustainable Community
Development in Developing Countries. Business
and Society XX(X) pp. 1–27 © 2012 SAGE
Publications.
Scherer, A.G. & Palazzo, G. (2011), The New Political Role of Business in a Globalized World: A
Review of a New Perspective on CSR and its Implications for
Governance, and Democracy. Journal Management Studies
Vol. 48, Issue 4, pp. 899-931.
Schmitz, J. & Schrader, J.P. (2015). Corporate Social Responsibility: A Microeconomic Review of
the Literature. Journal of Economic Surveys, Vol. 29, Issue 1,
pp. 27-45.
Sood, A. & Arora, B. (2004), The political economy of Corporate Social Responsibility in India.
Williams, O.F. (2014), Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Vol. 2014, No. 53, March, pp. 9-26 (18).
Wood, D. J. (1991). Corporate social performance revisited. Academy of Management Review, 16,
pp. 691-718.
Online Resources
1. http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/government-clarifies-on-csr-spending/article5320157.ece
2. http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI
3. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
4. http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/multinational-corporations-key-global-poverty-reduction-–-part- i
Published
2018-03-17
How to Cite
Choudhary, P. A. (2018). CSR: Does One Size Fit All. IJRDO - Journal of Business Management, 4(2), 119-124. https://doi.org/10.53555/bm.v4i2.1913