Beyond corporate social responsibility : the scope for corporate investment in community driven development

Abstract

The last decade has witnessed expanded awareness among companies, especially multinational corporations, of their responsibilities toward the communities they impact, elaborated in the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and allied notions such as a Social License to Operate (SLTO). CSR is the realization of business contributions to sustainable development goals. It refers to how business takes account of its economic, social and environmental impacts in the way it operates maximizing the benefits and minimizing the downsides. CSR undertakings are the voluntary actions that business can take, over and above compliance with minimum legal requirements, to address both its own competitive interests and the interests of wider society. There are two principal types of development partnerships between the private sector and communities: a social investment model wherein company funding is applied to investments or programs that seek to improve the general welfare of the community and an economic linkages model which associates development initiatives more closely with the business drivers of the private sector and includes job training, direct employment, technical skills training, microfinance, capital formation, or developing new supply bases and creating supply chain linkages. An economic linkages approach implies integration of community engagement strategies into the core business activity of the company and development of consolidated markets so that communities become embedded in corporate supply chains.