THE INTEGRATION OF CORPORATE SOCIAL
Date
2011-04-15
Authors
Ilett, Dominic Richard
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Abstract
While companies have been practising philanthropy for decades, the field of
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a relatively new and fast evolving field
in business. Companies invest ever increasing sums of money and resources in
CSR; consequently, there is a need for companies to think strategically about
their CSR approach to ensure its effective integration with overall business
strategy.
This research study documents how South African companies integrate CSR with
their overall business strategy. By following a process of in-depth semi structured
interviews, the views of senior executives and managers involved with CSR at
companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Social Responsible
Investment Index were obtained.
The main findings that emerged reveal that South African companies believe
CSR should form part of company strategy. How companies set about making
this a reality depends on their unique organisational structure. Importantly, it was
found that an understanding of the external as well as internal forces impacting
upon CSR, buy-in from leadership and all stakeholders and effective
organisational processes and systems were critical for effective implementation.
While some companies report having made progress, there is an
acknowledgement that fully integrating CSR with company strategy has not yet
been achieved
Description
MBA - WBS
Keywords
Corporate social responsibility, Strategic planning