Samuel O. Idowu

A comparative study of the contents of corporate social responsibility reports of UK companies

The last few decades have seen an increase in awareness on the part of corporate entities in Western democracies that they are morally obliged to give something back to society. An entity that fails to make a positive contribution to society will be perceived as being socially irresponsible! To demonstrate that they “care” about the people and environment they operate in, organisations have taken different courses of action. The corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports which have now become an annual report in addition to the traditional annual financial reports is one of the vehicles used to demonstrate how caring they have been over the financial period that has just ended and how they intend to continue to be even more so in future periods. The study looks at CSR reports of different companies across different industries in the UK. Notes that there are two distinct practices adopted when reporting on CSR matters. Some companies issue separate reports for their CSR activities whilst others devote a section in their annual reports for providing information on these activities. Also notes that all companies in the survey recognise the enormous benefits that can emanate from making known their CSR policies and activities. It can be revealed from the study that UK CSR reports disclose information about the contributions an entity has made during the year that has just ended in four main perspectives, which are environment, community, marketplace and workplace.

Global Practices of Corporate Social Responsibility

Being socially responsible on the part of corporate entities is now no longer an option. It is part of their normal business obligations to all their stakeholders regardless of whether these are primary or secondary stakeholders. Modern societies around the world now expect corporate entities of all shapes and forms to be socially responsible in whatever they do: the “Global Practices of Corporate Social Responsibility” is a first attempt at bringing together in one book experts’ accounts of how corporate entities in twenty independent nations around the world are dealing with the issue of CSR. The world today faces diverse social problems. These become apparent as one moves from one country to the next, interestingly, society now expects corporations to help in finding solutions to these problems. The problem of global warming affects us all, modern corporations can no longer continue to assume that the problem will go away, if nothing is done by them. We can all make a big difference by our little actions.

Professionals' Perspectives of Corporate Social Responsibility

Since the general acceptance of the field of corporate social responsibility worldwide, corporate entities and those who act for them either as executives or “ordinary” employees are expected to be socially responsible. Being socially responsible has a number of quantifiable and unquantifiable benefits for the entity and its stakeholders. It improves the entity’s bottom line results, protect jobs and is also better for the environment. As such it makes good sense for professionals and those they interact with as colleagues, suppliers of goods and services, lenders etc to want to take the issue of CSR seriously. This perhaps explains why this book has chosen to explore how nineteen professions across the world have integrated and continue to impress upon their staff the importance of CSR in their operational activities. We are constantly reminded that our world’s natural resources are exhaustible; we can therefore no longer live for today alone if we do not want to cause substantial problems for future generation.

Theory and Practice of Corporate Social Responsibility

Modern businesses and organizations understand that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an important factor for sustainable success. At the same time CSR has established itself as a widely accepted element of courses in managerial training and education. This book, designed to support CSR teaching, collects 14 essays that clearly illustrate and explain the benefits and challenges of socially responsible corporate policies. Aligning theory and practice, the book focuses on four central themes: management, environment and sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and accounting and financial reporting. Business students and experienced managers alike will find this book a valuable resource that helps them to discover the strong forces that link successful management with corporate social responsibility.

An exploratory study of the historical landscape of corporate social responsibility in the UK

Purpose – This paper aims to piece together chronologically the events and revolutionary acts that have been taken by groups of individuals, entrepreneurs/industrialists and corporate entities in the UK which fall under the ambit of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in order to derive the history of CSR in the country.Design/methodology/approach – Data from literature and prior studies were used to gather the required information in order to contribute to knowledge about the history of CSR, at least from the perspective of the UK.Findings – The results suggest that individuals in groups, industrialists/entrepreneurs acting individually, and even corporate entities have been indirectly engaged in CSR activities in the UK for well over 200 years. Altruistic CSR in the UK has a long history.Originality/value – Information on how CSR evolved in the UK and elsewhere is considered to be valuable by both academic researchers and business managers, as it provides a framework on which future studies can be bas...

Corporate Social Responsibility from the Perspective of Corporate Secretaries

Corporate secretaries make a considerable contribution to corporate social responsibility (CSR) processes by the nature of the positions and responsibilities they hold in organisations. They act as a servant or full member of the board of directors, the body that formulates corporate strategies; which are subsequently executed by executive directors. When corporate secretaries become full members of the board, they pass on their duties as the secretary to someone else and take on the role of governance in directorship capacity.

Sustainability and Social Innovation

Since the publication of Our Common Future by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 and Elkington’s (1997) Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of Twenty-First Century Business 10 years later, it is widely accepted that sustainability has three dimensions: an economic, an environmental, and a social one. Out of these three dimensions or pillars, as they are sometimes known, the social one has received the least interest, also when it comes to reporting (Fifka and Drabble 2012). While the economic dimension seems to be the overriding pillar, the ecological one has also been given considerable attention, especially with regard to the development of new environmentally friendly technologies. Thus, in this regard, a mutual interdependency between sustainability and its ecological dimension can be observed. On the one hand side, ecology can be regarded as one vital element of sustainability. Out of these three dimensions or pillars, as they are sometimes known, the social one has received the least interest, also when it comes to reporting (Fifka and Drabble 2012).

Corporate Social Responsibility: A capitalist ideology?

The field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been embraced globally by modern corporate entities of all shapes and forms. Advocates of the field argue that corporations that are perceived by society as being socially responsible are likely to derive enormous benefits from being so. They argue that most stakeholders whether primary or secondary, internal or external, local or national offer their support of the actions of these socially responsible corporations. Most would agree that corporate responsibility is an excellent idea, but from where did the ideology of CSR originate? An examination of the literature has given no conclusive evidence as to whether CSR is a capitalists’ doctrine; in fact the literature is unusually silent in this respect, perhaps it is assumed that we all know. However, after examining the activities that stem from the ideology and considering the presence of the word ‘social’ in its very name one may deduce that CSR is a socialist doctrine. What history has preceded the evolution of CSR in today’s corporation? Why are multinational corporations from these capitalists’ states now exporting the ideology throughout the world? Is CSR representative of a new form of capitalist ideology? These are some of the issues that this study will explore in depth in order to establish the origins of CSR practiced by capitalist corporations in the 21st century.

An Empirical Study of What Institutions of Higher Education in the UK Consider to be Their Corporate Social Responsibility

The field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is relatively a new field when compared with other fields. It was in the 1980s that corporate entities around the world started to generate increasing interest in CSR as we presently understand it. However, a search of the literature has revealed that scholars in the field have tended to concentrate more efforts on the CSR of profit seeking corporate entities. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case when it comes to the CSR of not-for-profit (NFP) corporate entities such as educational establishments (schools, colleges and universities), hospitals, the police, the armed forces, the fire services and other social entities which equally play important roles in modern economies. Do these not-for-profit organisations consider that they have some roles to play in CSR as it is perceived by corporate stakeholders in the 21st century? If they do, do they play these roles as effectively as they should? How do these entities’ stakeholders perceive the contributions they make to societies’ well-being? These and other pertinent questions are what this research study seeks to find answers to.The study looks at what UK’s institutions of higher education consider to be their corporate social responsibilities and how they have absorbed these responsibilities into what they do in order to discharge these responsibilities to local, national and international communities. The research notes that most institutions of higher education in the UK are conscious that they owe some responsibility to all their stakeholders and are striving to demonstrate this awareness in various ways. Most are signatories to some international declarations on sustainability in higher education. Keywords Social responsibility, Not-for-profit organisations, higher education institutions, environment, stakeholders, universities, UK, sustainability.

From CSR and sustainability to integrated reporting

The current paper aims to emphasise the presence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability elements in the integrated reporting framework, focusing on the most relevant set of voluntary reporting initiatives in the CSR/sustainability/IR sphere. Based on the theoretical background of the IR framework, ISO 26000 and GRI G4, a comparison analysis has been developed that helped identifying whether IR is a new step in corporate reporting and could contribute to a common ground for the non-financial reporting frameworks and guidelines. The comparison analysis reveals that most of the terms and definitions, elements, and principles from ISO 26000 and GRI G4 are found in the IR framework, but in a much broader sense and providing a deeper understanding regarding what companies should report and how the disclosed information should be organised in the annual corporate report.