Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate-Community Partnerships

This study explores the role of a corporate- community partnership in making Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) a mechanism that creates shared value for both business and society. The investigation seeks to shed light on how a partnership can ensure business benefits in terms of satisfied CSR objectives for a company, as well as beneficial outcomes in terms of development in the host-communities. The concept of CSR has caused businesses world wide to pay increased attention to social and environmental performance. For those companies operating in developing countries, these responsibilities are frequently defined in terms of contributions to sustainable development. While the corporate rationale for CSR has been firmly identified by previous research, there are more uncertainties regarding CSR s outcomes and consequences for the beneficiaries of CSR initiatives in the host-society. Some companies have therefore chosen to engage in partnerships in order to contextually tailor their CSR interventions, improve corporate-community dialogue, and ensure an appropriate response to local expectations about a company s social and environmental responsibilities.