Government and Corporate Social

Responsibility (GCSR)
Holy Father, you who are all-knowing and
wise, teach us your ways. We seek your
wisdom and insight, we want to have
knowledge and understanding. We
seek your goodness, so we can
walk in the path you lay before
us, knowing right from wrong.
Fill us with your knowledge,
O Lord, so we may walk in
the straight and narrow
path, in faithfulness to
follow you. In Jesus
mighty
name I pray.
AMEN
WORDS OF WISDOM
 STRATEGIC PUBLIC POLICY VISION FOR
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

OBJECTIVES:

After completing this lesson, the masterands will be able to:

Learn the definitions and applications of Corporate Social Responsibility; and

understand and appreciate the CSR framework

CONTENT OUTLINE :

 Corporate Social Responsibility Reference Framework

 CSR Where Do We Stand?

 Building the Nation as an Economic and Social space

 Managing Corporate Social Responsibility

 Why We Need Strategic Vision

 STRATEGIC PUBLIC POLICY VISION FOR
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Government and Corporate Social Responsibility (GCSR),

has made an impressive entry on the economic, business,
political and social scene. In the last decade, there were
different terms used, such as: social action, socially
responsible investment, management by values, corporate
citizenship, business ethics, the triple bottom line, reputation
and so on.
STRATEGIC PUBLIC POLICY VISION FOR
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Thus, when we discuss about Government and Social

Responsibility or Corporate Social Responsibility, we should
make a distinction between three aspects, according to
Albareda, Lozano, Marcuccio, Rocher and Yu:
 
 Agenda
 
 Understanding

 Vision
 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
REFERENCE FRAMEWORK

 The European Commission (2001a) defines

CSR as a “concept whereby companies
integrate social and environmental concerns
in their business operations and in their
interaction with stockholders on a voluntary
basis.”
 
The Commission tackles this
topic with two aspects: the
“what” and the “how”. The
“what” emphasizes the fact
that companies should make
social and environmental
commitments in their actions;
and for the “how”, it stresses
the voluntary nature of those
commitments.
 
CSR WHERE DO WE STAND?
How did CSR begin in the Philippines?

In 1970, fifty leading

When addressing the
corporations responded to the
growing chasm between
call and organized a common
the elite and the masses, a
foundation, herewith referred
progressive business group
to as the PHLIPPINE
in Venezuela set up the
BUSINESS FOR SOCIAL
very first CSR organization
PROGRESS or PBSP, which
in 1964, known as
today is one of the most
Dividendo Voluntario para
successful NGOs in the whole
la Communidad (DVC).
world – in behalf of the
marginalized sector of society.
CSR WHERE DO WE STAND?
Andres Soriano III once
The new millennium saw company
explains: “The practice of
and private foundations sprouting
Corporate social responsibility
like mushrooms to share God’s
evolved through the years from
blessings and help improve
company philanthropy to direct
people’s quality of life.
involvement. Today, corporate
 
social responsibility has been
Ayala, Petron, San Miguel
institutionalized in many
Corporation, Gokongwei Group,
business organizations as a
Metro Pacific, Lopez Group,
distinct corporate function,
Aboitiz Group, Pfizer, Tan Yan
which means that it has
Kee, SM and many other private
become a significant part of the
institutions have established their
main line of their business”
own foundation to make a
(cited in Maximiano, 2003).
difference.
CSR WHERE DO WE STAND?

The CSR debate highlights the fact that, in a globalized

world, it is not just products and services that compete but
also business models, management models and
governmence national models. In this connection, when we
talk of CSR we have to think of the existence of non-
coincident approximations even if we focus on Europe and
the United States and allow ourselves to forget the rest of
the world.
 CSR WHERE DO WE STAND?

In the USA, the main issues

On the other hand, in Europe,
regarding CSR revolve for the
CSR tends to be linked
most part around management
increasingly to an overall vision
in relation to the stakeholders,
of the company, with more
the establishment of relations
attention to all the processes in
with the community, and
which it is involved and greater
business action at society,
sensitivity towards the political
which are frequently described
and social context in which it
as CSR because they are
operates.
carried out by companies,
rather than because they affect
the company’s business core.
Figure 1.1 CSR Background on National
Framework
Source: Adopted from Roome (2005)
Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) brings us, then, to ask
ourselves whether our country is
capable in this economic and
social aspects, because CSR is
also about how companies and
countries differentiate themselves
in an interdependent world.
CSR WHERE DO WE STAND?
 BUILDING THE NATION AS AN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
SPACE

Without a shared vision,

The time has come to expound
public – and indeed corporate
openly that CSR constitutes
– reflection on CSR boils down
one of the great opportunities
to no more than the pragmatic
for innovation, differentiation
results of the correlation of
and legitimation available to
forces and the play of
business today.
interests, of the scenario of a
conflict of convictions.
BUILDING THE NATION AS AN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
SPACE

Figure 1.2 CSR, Governance and Sustainability

Source: Lozano, ESADE
BUILDING THE NATION AS AN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
SPACE
The following issues/topics that be publicly formed and aired:

 CSR players involved

 CSR and partnership relations
 CSR and creation of social capital
 CSR and business discourse
 CSR: Innovation and coherence
 CSR from rhetoric to good practices
MANAGING CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

 Vision and mission

 Stakeholders
 Work
 Market
 Environment
 Accountability
 MANAGING CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

When CSR is conceived as a process, it is important to be

aware that several dimensions have to be taken into
consideration:

 The explicit
 The tacit
 The negative aspects
 The Propositional aspects
 WHY WE NEED STRATEGIC VISION

When we talk of CSR, we take as reference elements the

two words that appear in the titles of the European
Commission documents: promoting (from the perspective
of political institutions and public administrations) and
contribution public (from the perspective of business
sector).

Nothing can replace business initiative when it comes to

contributing through its action to build the CSR agenda,
shape its understanding and frame it in a vision.
 WHY WE NEED STRATEGIC VISION

 To talk of CSR is to talk of what vision we have for the company and
for the country.

 To talk of CSR is to talk of how it is conceived and what

consequences it has in each particular society

 To talk of CSR is to consider what agenda of relevant issues and

actions render it significant in a company, a sector or a country.
WHY WE NEED STRATEGIC VISION

 To talk of CSR is to talk whether a country is capable of building itself

as an economic and social space.

 To talk of CSR is to talk about what sort of leadership the business

world is prepared to assume.

 To talk of CSR is to talk about how countries and companies rank in

a globalized and interdependent world, and what differentiates
them.
 GCSR: CONTEXT AIM AND PERSPECTIVES
Objectives:
After completing this lesson, the masterands will be able to:

 learn the important approaches to the action of

governments in the framework of promoting and
developing CSR; and

 understand and appreciate the elements for analysis and

debate on governments and CSR.
THE LITERATURE ON GOVERNMENTS AND CSR:
EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK
 COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN EUROPEAN
FRAMEWORK AND AMERICAN FRAMEWORK
From a European Point of View :
From an American Point of View :
In Southern European countries
A report that makes
CSR is approached as a social
recommendations is “Promoting
development issue. The authors
Global Corporate Social
state that in Europe, in general, the
Responsibility” by Frank Hawkins
concept of CSR is linked to
Kenan Institutes of Private
sustainability and governance: it is
Enterprise, (2003), which
seen as the way for companies to
encourages the US government to
contribute to sustainable
develop strong partnerships capable
development and strengthen
of responding to the new challenges
economic competitiveness, social
of governance generated by
cohesion and environment
globalization.
protection.
Contribution that present a more Pan-European Vision

 Roome (2005) presents the implications of the CSR agenda of

European governments.

 Matten and Moon (2005), develop a conceptual framework for

understanding CSR in Europe.

 Lenssen and Vorobey (2005) provide insight into the development

of theoretical and empirical models on the role of business in
society in Europe.
ROLES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN RELATION TO CSR

According to Fox et. al. (2002), work from the idea of the
public sector adopting four roles:
 
 Mandating
 Facilitating
 Partnering; and
 Endorsing
 
ROLES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN RELATION TO CSR

The work done by Nidasio (2004) is also interesting,

although it focuses exclusively on a comparative study of the
reporting frameworks and models developed by four
European governments:
 
 Italy
 Belgium
 Netherlands
 France
ROLES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN RELATION TO CSR
 In this connection, there is a very relevant analysis by Moon (2004)
on the CSR policy adopted by the UK government. Moon considers
that this government adopted its CSR policy as a response to the
social governance crisis and the lack of legitimacy of the state that
appeared in the last decades of the twentieth century.
 At that time, an answer was being sought to the social governance
deficit that affected British society in “issues such as unemployment,
the regeneration of socially and economically less favored areas,
vocational training of the unemployed and the employed, business
start-up and job creation.
 Moon concludes that the British government saw CSR as a
contribution by the business world towards meeting these challenges
and incorporated it into the political agenda.
 
 CSR FRAMEWORK: BEYOND VOLUNTARY
COMPLIANCE VS. LEGISLATION

 It is very important to emphasize that the debate between

voluntary compliance and legislation depends on how we
understand CSR. For the sake of simplicity, on one side of the
coin we could put those who consider that CSR starts where the
law ends.
 
 Efficiency, competitiveness, paying taxes and abiding by the
law is what a company has to do and beyond that point is where
CSR starts.
“When we talk of public policies and CSR, we are talking
not about mechanical solutions, but about political
options and strategy.”