Strategic framework for corporate social responsibility practices a study of North West region of India

Abstract

In context to India the term CSR might be new but the concept is as old as Indian culture. Previously Hindu s call it dharmmada , Muslims call it zakatah , and Sikhs call it dashaant . As individuals joined hands to form organizations, the same concept became embedded in the organizations. As India entered the phase of liberalization, increasing number of agencies and firms including the multinational firms have started investment in social sector development. Our economy is exposed to changing market structures and competitive environment. And this practice of donation of money for the social cause or social upliftment of the society has changed with economic reforms. Today the Corporate social responsibility (CSR) goes far beyond the old philanthropy of the past donating money for a good cause at the end of the financial year and is instead an all year round responsibility that companies accept for sustainable environment around them, for the best working practices and for the engagement of local communities. Now we need to move towards a challenging measure of corporate social responsibility i.e., how organizations can generalize the concept of CSR to help the society. The present research studies the CSR practices followed by large scale organizations in the North-West region of India in special context to IT, Auto and Fast moving consumer goods Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) firms in three the areas of health, education and environment. This research also analyses the prospective drivers and barriers in CSR implementation initiatives. Focusing on all these important aspects, CSR will enable the firms to plan their CSR initiatives in a co-ordinated way so that the common benefits can be achieved. This has been done with the help of well-structured questionnaire designed and used as a prime survey instrument for data collection and case studies of 12 major companies have been used.