CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY PRACTICES, PERCEPTIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: A STUDY IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT

Abstract

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has existed for a significant time in management discourse. Factors like globalisation, increasing concern for the environment, energy and resource shortages, cases of unethical practices by corporates and the role of information and communication technology and the media in bringing transparency to corporate activities have brought a lot of focus on CSR. CSR is the acknowledgement of the social and environmental impact of the company’s business operations. This thesis, adopts Kotler and Lee’s [(2005), p.7] view on CSR that asserts CSR as “making long-term commitments to specific social issues and initiatives; providing more than cash contributions; sourcing funds from business units as well as philanthropic budgets; forming strategic alliances; and doing all of this in a way that also advances business goals”. In recent years, the Indian government has sought greater involvement from organisations in overcoming social, economic and environmental challenges. It has led to the introduction of voluntary CSR guidelines, followed by mandatory CSR spending and reporting provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. The dearth of CSR studies in the developing country context, India’s unique socio-economic and political positioning towards CSR, the evolving nature of CSR in the country, increased participation by Indian organisations in the CSR effort in the country and the role of internal and external factors in CSR adoption, all serve to act as a motivation for this study. The aim of this thesis is to, therefore, explore different facets of CSR, like motivation for CSR and CSR reporting, CSR activities, the role of the government and non-governmental organisations in CSR, CSR implications for business and society, identification of barriers to and incentive for CSR adoption and trends and activities likely to prevail in the future. The research requires the use of existing CSR information of the companies, to understand CSR practices and trends. The present study undertakes the content analysis of annual reports of 42 non-financial companies, listed on the Nifty 50 index of the National stock Exchange (NSE) over the period 2004-2011. The analysis elucidates the motivation for CSR, CSR activities, nature of CSR reporting and the role of NGOs, in a context where regulatory intervention in CSR was non-existent. A questionnaire survey of CSR personnel included responses from 108 CSR managers, 43 CSR consultants and 40 NGOs, having work experience with companies listed the NSE’s CNX 100 index. Apart from complementing the findings of the analysis of annual reports, the survey helped explore the CSR facets in an

environment where the influence of governmental intervention in the CSR scenario was visible. The collected data was analysed using SPSS (version 16) and the statistical tools like principal component analysis, multiple regression, ANOVA and mean. The findings of the study suggest that motivation for CSR is, primarily, a combination of stakeholder and normative influences and community, environment and energy related CSR activities have been popular with Indian organisations for some time. The implications of CSR, for the company and for society, like inclusive growth, also received attention. With the aim to simplify CSR measurement, the study goes on to propose the CA-AHP model of assessment and identifies Key Performance Indicators in CSR assessment. The thesis concludes with a triangulation of results from primary and secondary studies across chapters. The thesis adds to CSR literature, in particular to literature emanating from India, and advocates an outlook where CSR can be beneficial for the companies, society and the environment.