Management caveats for measuring and assessing public responsibility performance

More and more, stakeholders are demanding company performance information in the areas of public responsibility. Unfortunately, as companies report these activities, stakeholders, rather than being satisfied, are increasingly demanding additional information. Management is then left wondering why actions meant to satisfy lead instead to greater dissatisfaction. Often, managers do not understand what steps to take in developing good measurement and assessment plans and communicating performance results. This article presents fourteen caveats in a checklist for managers to use as they go through this process. Recommendations for deciding what to measure, developing and interpreting appropriate metrics, setting benchmark standards, building learning systems, developing policies for inclusion of external stakeholders, and communication are given.     

Rethinking the new corporate philanthropy

More than ever, corporations are expected to practice “citizenship” by engaging in various community or social philanthropy programs. These corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs have broad appeal among business scholars, business executives, and the public. After first setting some theoretical boundaries for CSR as it relates to the legal and strategic management fields, the authors examine how CSR (both its implementation and expectations) can lead to unintended results, compromising the distinct roles business and government play in market-driven, democratic systems.     

Beyond cops and robbers: The contextual challenge driving the multinational corporation public crisis in China and Russia

Entering the new century, foreign Fortune 500 companies operating in China and Russia have encountered an increasing number of public crises concerning various social and environmental issues. The public crisis refers to an unexpected, non-routine, and media-exposed event in which affected stakeholders (e.g., community members, employees, customers) charge that a company has compromised their interests. Although many of these crises involved the misdeeds of multinational corporations (MNCs), the story is beyond catching baddies. Instead, there are contextual challenges rooted in the social, political, and market environments of China and Russia that drive the occurrence of the public crisis regardless of MNC misdeeds. Considering the institutional change and stakeholder growth in these countries, it is increasingly important for MNCs to understand and effectively deal with these challenges. This article provides insights to MNCs and researchers in three ways. First, the article reveals the patterns of MNC crises in the two countries from 2000 to 2011 and presents the variation between the two countries. Second, the article identifies four types of contextual challenges, including the global-national challenge, the social-trust challenge, the institutional-voids challenge, and the normalized-misdeed challenge. Finally, the article discusses the managerial implications of these challenges and recommends tackling strategies.     

Globalization and the Good Corporation: A Need for Proactive Co-existence

Large corporations are coming under intense pressure to act in a socially responsible manner. Corporations have accepted this notion provided that it is exercised voluntarily. It has also been argued that corporations can do well by doing good, and that good ethics is good business. This paper presents an alternative viewpoint by demonstrating that while voluntary socially responsible conduct is desirable, it plays a rather small role in inspiring good corporate conduct. Instead, (a) it is the external economic-competitive conditions that define the parameters and opportunities for good corporate conduct; and (b) the values and traditions of the corporations, and their perceived risk in exploiting those opportunities, that influence the extent of a corporation's socially responsible conduct. The framework presented here analyzes certain market-competitive conditions, which determine the scope and direction of socially responsible corporate conduct, and the instruments available to society to enhance ethical corporate conduct. It suggests that from society's perspective, we should move away from the notion of corporate social responsibility and toward corporate social accountability. Most modern economies operate under conditions of imperfect competition where corporations gain above-normal profits, i.e., market rent, from market imperfections. Therefore, corporations should be held accountable for a more equitable distribution of these above-normal profits with other groups, e.g., customers, employees, etc., who were deprived of their market-based gains because of market imperfections and corporate power. Three approaches are suggested for measuring corporate accountability through corrections. These are: information imbalance, bargaining power imbalance, and, adjudication, remedy and relief imbalance.     

Integrating public service and marketing differentiation: an analysis of the American Express Corporation’s “Charge Against Hunger” promotion program

Dating back to the 1980s, American Express (AMEX) has been a corporate leader in successfully applying cause-related marketing (CRM) to boost membership and credit card usage in troubled markets. During a downturn in the mid-1990s, AMEX and Share Our Strength (SOS), a nonprofit organization tackling the problem of hunger in the United States, formed a strategic alliance to create one of the best known and most highly touted CRM campaigns. AMEX implemented an innovative cause branding (CB) effort to convince its cardholders to “Charge Against Hunger” (CAH) by utilizing their AMEX credit cards more frequently during the holiday season. Over the 4-year life of the program, the issue of hunger in the United States was put somewhat higher on the public agenda as more than US $21 million were raised for SOS projects. This study assesses how AMEX’s public relations efforts contributed to the success of the CAH campaign.     

Employees and the Operation of Accountability

This article examines a social accounting cycle in a Danish savings bank with specific focus on how employees interacted with the cycle. The case study is based on archival material and observations of employee engagement sessions that were a significant part of the cycle. The article exposes the ways in which the cycle can be understood as an initiative that prompts different forms of accountability. The cycle had the potential to bring different forms of accountability together, but the cycle also faced challenges that threatened its relevance from an employee perspective. These challenges might have implications for the way we perceive social accounting and the role of employees.     

企业社会责任与SA8000认证

企业社会责任和企业伦理是一个问题,国外学者在这方面的研究已走在了前面,他们认识到企业社会责任是公司的一种无形资产,这种无形资产可以为公司带来比较优势。然而,对于我国这一市场化起步较晚,企业参与国际竞争仍处于较低水平的国家而言,社会责任问题还是一个新课题。     

企业社会责任:测定、策略及其影响

企业承担社会责任是社会进步和可持续发展的必然趋势。企业对于社会责任的选择和履行对劳动力市场、公共基础设施建设和消费者选择都有重要影响。企业承担社会责任意味着企业要从以前单纯追求自身利益最大化转变为在追求利益最大化的同时,兼顾到其利益相关者甚至社会的利益。要做到这点企业必须从两个方面出发:内部要给员工及其利益相关者创造和谐氛围;外部要对环境、公共事业、社会稳定担负相应责任。社会责任对企业并不仅仅是负担,也会给企业带来诸多益处。     

Social Paradigms and Attitudes Toward Environmental Accountability

This paper argues that commitment to the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) in Western societies, which includes support for such ideologies as free enterprise, private property rights, economic individualism, and unlimited economic growth, poses a threat to progress in imposing greater standards of corporate environmental accountability. It is hypothesized that commitment to the DSP will be negatively correlated with support for the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) and support for corporate environmental accountability, and that belief in the NEP will be positively correlated with support for corporate environmental accountability. The findings, based on a survey of MBA students, are generally consistent with the hypotheses. William E. Shafer is an associate professor in the Department of Accountancy at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. His primary research interests are professionalism and ethics in accounting and corporate social and environmental accountability. His publications have appeared in a variety of academic and professional journals, including Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory; Accounting Horizons; Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal; Business Ethics Quarterly; Journal of Business Ethics; Journal of Accountancy; and The CPA Journal.     

Corporate Social Responsibility in franchise chains: Specificities,insights from French franchise chains’ CSD,and avenues for future research

Although franchise chains are increasingly committed to environmental, social, and societal transitions, only a few researchers have focused on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the specific case of franchising. The aim of our paper is to discuss the specificities and challenges of CSR in franchising, explore how franchisors report on their sustainable practices, and emphasize subsequent directions for future research. In order to do so, we focus on the Corporate Social Disclosure (CSD) practices of twenty-two retail and service franchisors operating in the French market where regulations of non-financial information disclosures exist for large companies. Our findings show that these franchisors disclose rich and diversified information about their CSR activities. However, franchisors’ disclosures can vary significantly, especially depending on their chain size and whether they are subject to reporting regulations. Our research contributes to the literature on CSR in franchise chains, as well as the practice.     

The double bottom line: Profit and social benefit

There is an important shift in business focus in the United States that is empowering companies to not only declare their intent to be ethical firms which do good while making a profit, but also to submit proof of that commitment for annual review by outside evaluators. A new business model is providing structure for non-profits that wish to grow, for for-profits that wish to be socially responsible, and for individuals who wish to invest in companies with a commitment to corporate social responsibility and sustainability. B Lab has taken the lead in providing the models necessary for this shift to a focus on the double bottom line: profit and social benefit. It has created the legal documents for state legislatures to use to pass a new corporate structure called the ‘benefit corporation.’ In the 3 years of its existence, legislatures in 19 states and the District of Columbia have ratified the new corporate structure. Likewise, B Lab offers a performance assessment program to become a Certified B Corporation, independent of legal corporate status, which also serves as an evaluation program for benefit corporations. Additionally, it has created a ratings agency and analytics platform, the Global Impact Investing Rating System (GIIRS), to help institutional investors evaluate the impact of companies’ corporate social responsibility initiatives. This article discusses the requirements and benefits of the new models and addresses the issues that have been raised about them. It also identifies companies that are incorporating the benefit corporation structure and are becoming Certified B Corporations.     

从国际视角看强化我国企业社会责任的必要性

本文认为,目前我国对企业的社会责任认识不一,存在一些误区,有的甚至有抵触情绪。文章提出,从国外的企业社会责任报告制度来看,我国一方面应以政府引导、妥善应对、稳步推进、和谐发展、趋利避害为指导方针,加快企业社会责任法制化,建立我国企业社会责任评价标准和体系,充分发挥工会在强化企业社会责任方面的作用,加大对企业社会责任的宣传力度。另一方面,企业也要重视企业社会责任,积极担负起企业应肩负的社会责任,在注重自身发展的同时承担起社会责任,实现企业发展和社会发展的双赢目标。     

The Land of Realism and the Shipwreck of Idea-ism: Thomas Aquinas and Milton Friedman on the Social Responsibilities of Business

The views of thirteenth century Catholic thinker Thomas Aquinas and twentieth century economist Milton Friedman on the social responsibility of business are contrasted by probing the foundations of their positions. The basis of Aquinas’ normative stance in political economy is found in the metaphysical and moral realism of the classic tradition. The role Descartes and Hobbes played in overturning this philosophical starting point and ushering in an age of ideology is traced out. Friedman’s commitment to Comte’s vision of positivism is revealed and what this entails for metaphysics, ethics, and economics is given.     

CSR and the national institutional context: The case of South Korea

The different institutional contexts in which businesses practice corporate social responsibility (CSR) lead researchers to challenge the validity of the extant standardized global approach. This study follows recent studies in employing institutional theory to explore the specific pressures and factors that lead CSR practices to differ between countries, and how they lead to those differences. The study is a detailed qualitative analysis of CSR practice in South Korea, a country with very different value and governance systems from the US and UK where contemporary CSR evolved. Contrary to simplistic expectations, Korea shows a concern for short-termism more than for sustainability; and a normative more than a strategic orientation in its CSR, where CSR lies at a crossroads between implicit and explicit CSR behavior. The practices reflect many Korean institutional factors, but not in simple and direct ways. Institutional factors interact in intricate ways to create complex and dynamic pressures for CSR practice. CSR research needs to consider these interactions and dynamic processes with care and institutional theory can help provide a sufficiently intricate research framework.     

Using social marketing to enhance hotel reuse programs

Hotels are increasingly sponsoring social marketing programs to encourage voluntary reduction of towel and linen use. These programs reduce water usage thus benefiting the environment. They also reduce hotels' laundering costs. Two controlled experiments were conducted to assess behavioral intentions and attributions as a result of such programs. Results demonstrate that response is most positive when savings from the program are donated to charity. When evidence is provided suggesting that a majority of hotel guests participate (social proof), the impact of how savings are used is reduced. This is especially pronounced for those traveling on business. Fit between the charity and the reuse program is inconsequential. The authors discuss implications.