Perspectives on CSR from Mauritius - An emerging economy

• Main Authors: Kassen, Hemant, Juwaheer, TD
• Other Authors: Mohd Sani, Mohd Azizuddin
• Format: Book Section
• Language: English
• Published: College of Law, Government and International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia 2010
• Subjects: HC Economic History and Conditions
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/2495/1/Hemant_Kassean_-_Perspective_on_CSR.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/2495/; http://icis.uum.edu.my/

Purpose – To determine the overall CSR practice in Mauritian private and public sector companies. CSR, a complex concept, encompassing an ever-widening range of issues has been evolving over the past decade. CSR has broadened its scope to include not only aspects of corporate conduct that impinge on social, environmental and human rights issues, but also the role of business in relation to poverty reduction in the developing world. Evidence from literature, however shows a predominance of perspectives from an American and European multinational companies, NGOs, governments, trade unions and academics, with very few from developing nations. This paper has a research objective in increasing knowledge about what constitutes CSR in emerging markets, with Mauritius as a case. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 100 companies from the Top 100 companies‟ were chosen to participate in a face to face interview which was carried out over a period of 4 weeks.Findings – The majority of the companies are involved in CSR activities. Key areas of CSR involvement: Donation to welfare organisations,Sponsorships (NGOs, sports, district council, Environment Protection schemes, Health and Safety Programs (e.g. health alertness campaigns). Benefits for involvement in CSR activities were in terms of enhanced corporate image, good relationship between company and society, credibility towards stakeholders. Limitations: measurement of the true impact of CSR initiatives have not been carried out.