Alignment between corporate strategy and social responsibility in the banking sector
Date
2018
Authors
Naidu, Keshika
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Abstract
Corporate Social Responsibility programmes stretch into corporate strategy and are becoming pertinent strategic initiatives to which management are paying close attention to. This paper aims to display how the perceptions of the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives are viewed on behalf of the internal and external stakeholders in the banking sector. This paper states that CSR initiatives that are aligned to corporate strategy instil a greater sense of confidence and pride within the internal stakeholders from the directors to the CSR practitioners, to the strategy consultants, and all those who have an interest in the greater good of the community at large. The focus on corporate social responsibility in banking was decided upon to illustrate how CSR fits into a highly capitalised industry .There has been much debate concerning CSR in terms of whether it is a marketing ploy or whether it actually serves its purpose of fulfilling sustainable developmental efforts by improving the society in which it functions. Institutions face what is seen to be a double-edged sword in maximising stakeholder return and the interest of the investors; and responding to the social duties that surrounds them. It is imperative to note how banks decipher which element is more important. This study focuses on the impact of the CSR initiatives on business performance and why companies choose certain programmes to invest in. The theoretical aspects of CSR prove to be very different to CSR in practice. There are a wide range of corporates practising CSR as philanthropy, however there is also a fine line which exists and whether this can be viewed as an act of compliance or a nicety, such as a checklist to comply with regulations is debatable. Findings were reflective in that those CSR programmes that were closely linked to corporate strategy proved to be more fruitful than those that were not associated
Description
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2018
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Citation
Naidu, Keshika, (2018) Alignment of corporate strategy and social responsibility in the South African banking sector, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, https://hdl.handle.net/10539/27630