Abstract
Very little literature has been written on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of multinational companies (MNCs) and community needs in Ghana and Africa. Studies published pertaining to CSR in Africa is still relatively few. The relationship between company size and CSR activities has not been established through research in Ghana and Africa. Many MNCs in Ghana and Africa are striving to paint a picture of their companies as being highly socially responsible due to competition in the global market. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of the CSR contributions of Multi National Companies (MNCs) on local communities. This study also focused on investigating the reasons for the numerous CSR activities by these MNC’s and the benefits that these communities get. Five MNC’s (Vodafone, MTN, Unilever, Nestle and Shell) CSR activities were selected because they have invested heavily in CSR in Ghana for the past decade and their CSR activities are well known in the Ghanaian communities and directly affect communities in Ghana. The study revealed and tabulates various benefits that CSR activities bring to local communities and also the benefits that MNCs also get from engaging in the various CSR activities.
The study discusses how CSR activities of MNCs in developing countries differ from developed countries and proposes a conceptual framework to point out the relationship between CSR activities and stakeholder engagement especially local community in Ghana. The framework suggest there could be positive or negative effect of CSR activities on local community and hence MNCs will have to be strategic about their CSR activities in order to reap maximum benefits and minimize negative effects.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Ackerman, R., & Bauer, R. (1976). Corporate social responsiveness: The modern dilemma. Reston, VA: Reston.
Adams, C. A. (2002). Internal organisational factors influencing corporate social and ethical reporting: Beyond current theorising. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 15(2), 223–250.
Amaeshi, K., Adi, B., Ogbechie, C., & Amao, O. (2006). Corporate social responsibility in Nigeria: Western mimicry or indigenous influences? In ICCSR Research Paper Series (pp. 4, 17, 25). The University of Nottingham.
Amponsah-Tawiah, K., & Dartey-Baah, K. (2011). Corporate social responsibility in Ghana. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(17), 107–112.
Arjaliès, D.-L., & Péan, J.-M. (2009). CSR: A new business model for multinational companies? A study of the management systems used by the French CAC 40 companies to integrate CSR into their strategy. Working Paper, October 2009.
Bénabou, R., & Tirole, J. (2010). Individual and corporate social responsibility. Economica, 77, 1–19.
Berland, N., Dreveton, B., & Essid, M. (2009). Le coût de la protection de l'environnement. 30ème Congrès de l'Association Francophone de Comptabilité.
Berrone, P., Surroca, J., & Tribó, J. A. (2007). Corporate ethical identity as a determinant of firm performance: A test of the mediating role of stakeholder satisfaction. Journal of Business Ethics, 76, 35–53.
Besser, T. L. (1999). Community involvement and the perception of success among small business operators in small towns. Journal of Small Business Management, 37(4), 16–29.
Besser, T. L., & Miller, N. (2001). Is the good corporation dead? The community social responsibility of small business operators. Journal of Socio-Economics, 30(3), 221–241.
Branco, M. C., & Rodrigues, L. L. (2006). Corporate social responsibility and resource-based perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics, 69, 111–132.
Branco, M. C., & Rodrigues, L. L. (2007). Issues in corporate social and environmental reporting research: An overview. Issues in Social & Environmental Accounting, 1, 72–90.
Brenner, S., & Cochran, P. (1991), The stake-holder theory of the firm: Implications for business and society theory and research. IABS Proceedings 1991 (pp. 449–467).
Brummer, J. J. (1991). Corporate responsibility and legitimacy: An interdisciplinary analysis. New York: Greenwood.
Carroll, A. B. (1996). Ethics and stakeholder management (3rd ed.). Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Publishing.
Carroll, A. B. (1979). A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate social performance. Academy of Management Review, 4(4), 497–505.
Conrad, C., & Abbott, J. (2007). Why would they want to do that? The debate on corporate social responsibility. Oxford: Oxford Press.
Cowell, S. J., Wehrmeyer, W., Argust, P. W., Graham, J., & Robertson, S. (1999). Sustainability and the primary extraction industries: Theories and practice. Resources Policy, 25, 277–286.
Crowther, D. (2004). Corporate social reporting: Genuine action or window dressing? In D. Crowther & L. Rayman-Bacchus (Eds.), Perspectives on corporate social responsibility (pp. 140–160). Aldershot: Ashgate.
Crouch, C. (2006). Modelling the firm in its market and organisational environment: Methodologies studying corporate social responsibility. Organisation Studies, 27(10), 1533–1551.
Dartey-Baah, K., & Amponsah-Tawiah, K. (2011). Exploring the limits of Western corporate social responsibility theories in Africa. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(18), 126–137.
Dobers, P., & Halme, M. (2009). Corporate social responsibility and developing countries. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 16(5), 237–249.
Donaldson, T., & Preston, L. (1995). The stakeholder theory of the corporation: Concepts, evidence, and implications. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 65–91.
Drucker, P. (1984). The new meaning of corporate social responsibility. California Management Review, 26, 53–63.
Edwards, T., Tregaskis, O., Edwards, P., Ferner, A., & Marginson, P. (2006). Charting the contours of multinationals in Britain. Working Paper (available from the authors).
European Commission. (2005). CSR definition. Accessed November 12, 2009, from http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sustainable-business/corporate-socialresponsibility/index_en.htm
Figar, N., & Figar, V. (2011). Corporate social responsibility in the context of the stakeholder theory. Facta Universitatis, 1, 1–13.
Frederick, W. C. (1986). Toward CSR: Why ethical analysis is indispensable and unavoidable in corporate affairs. California Management Review, 28(2), 126–141.
Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston, MA: Pitman.
Freeman, R. E., & Phillips, R. A. (2002). Stakeholder theory: A libertarian defense. Business Ethics Quarterly, 12(3), 331–349.
Freeman, R. E., Wicks, A. C., & Parmar, B. (2004). Stakeholder theory and “the corporate objective revisited”. Organization Science, 15, 364–369. http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.
Freeman, R. E., Harrison, J. S., Wicks, A. C., Parmar, B., & de Colle, S. (2010). Stakeholder theory: The state of the art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Friedman, M., & The Assistance of Rose Friedman. (1962). Capitalism and freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Garriga, E., & Melé, D. (2004). Corporate social responsibility theories: Mapping the territory. Journal of Business Ethics, 53, 51–71.
Goering, G. E. (2012). Corporate social responsibility and marketing channel coordination. Research in Economics, 66(2), 142–148.
Hillman, A., & Keim, G. (2001). Shareholder value, stakeholder management, and social issues: What’s the bottom line? Strategic Management Journal, 22, 125–139.
Jamali, D., Safieddine, A. M., & Rabbath, M. (2008). Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility synergies and interrelationships. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 16, 443–459.
Jones, T., & Wicks, A. (1999). Convergent stakeholder theory. Academy of Management Review, 24, 206–221.
Joyner, B. E., Payne, D., & Raiborn, C. A. (2002). Building values, business ethics and corporate social responsibility into the developing organization. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 7(1), 113–131.
Key, R. M. A., Kozyr, A., Sabine, C. L., Lee, K., Wanninkhof, R., Bullister J. L., et al. (2004). A global ocean carbon climatology: Results from Global Data Analysis Project (GLODAP). Global Biogeochemical Cycles 18(4).
Kotler, P. (2000). Marketing management (The millennium ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Kotler, P., & Lee, N. (2005). Corporate social responsibility: Doing the most good for your company and your cause. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Lantos, G. P. (2001). The boundaries of strategic corporate social responsibility. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 18(7), 595–630.
Lunheim, R. (2003). Operationalising corporate social responsibility. Visions of ethical business. London: Financial Times-Prentice Hall.
Mammoud, I. (2009). Corporate social responsibility and its role in community development: An international perspective. The Journal of International Social Research, 2(9), 199–209.
Matten, D., & Moon, J. (2004). Corporate social responsibility education in Europe. Journal of Business Ethics, 54, 323–337.
McWilliams, A., & Siegel, D. (2001). Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Academy of Management Review, 26(1), 117–127.
McWilliams, A., Siegel, D. S., & Wright, P. M. (2006). Corporate social responsibility: Strategic implications. Journal of Management Studies, 43(1), 1–18.
Mitchell, R. K., Agle, B. R., & Wood, D. J. (1997). Towards a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 853–886.
Murillo, D., & Lozano, J. (2006). SMEs and CSR: An approach to CSR in their own words. Journal of Business Ethics, 67(3), 227–240.
Mwaura, F. (2004). Some aspects of the limnogeography of small high altitude tropical man-made reservoirs in the Eastern Rift Valley, Kenya. Unpublished Ph.D thesis, University of Nairobi, Nairobi.
Norris, G., & O’Dwyer, B. (2004). Motivating socially responsive decision making: The operation of management controls in a socially responsive organisation. The British Accounting Review, 36(2), 173–196.
Peck, P., & Sinding, K. (2003). Environmental and social disclosure and data richness in the mining industry. Business Strategy and the Environment, 12(3), 131–146.
Peattie, K. (1992). Green marketing. London: Longman.
Porter, M., & Kramer, M. (2002). The competitive advantage of corporate philanthropy. Harvard Business Review, 80(12), 56–68.
Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2006). Strategy and society: The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility. Harvard Business Review, 84, 78–92.
Roberts, P. W., & Dowling, G. R. (2002). Corporate reputation and sustained superior financial performance. Strategic Management Journal, 23, 1077–1093.
Schnietz, K. E., & Epstein, M. J. (2005). Exploring the financial value of a reputation for corporate social responsibility during a crisis. Corporate Reputation Review, 7(4), 327–345.
Solomon, R. (1991). Business ethics. In P. Singer (Ed.), A companion of ethics (pp. 354–365). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Surroca, J., & Tribó, J. A. (2008). Managerial entrenchment and corporate social performance. Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, 35(5–6), 748–789.
Syarikat FaizaSendirianBerhad (SFSB). (2009). SantapanBerkhasiatSepanjang Hayat [An everlasting nutritional food]. Available at: http://www.faizarice.com/index.htm.
The Ghana Chamber of Mines. (2005). The impact of mining on local economy. Annual report of the Chamber Mines. Accra, Ghana.
The Ghana Chamber of Mines. (2006). Ghana chamber of mines factoid. Accra: Ghana Chamber of Mines.
Trialogue. (2004). The good corporate citizen: Pursuing sustainable business in South Africa. Kenilworth: Trialogue.
Visser, W. (2005). The emergence of corporate citizenship in South Africa: A ten-year review of key influences, milestones and trends—1994–2004. Journal of Corporate Citizenship [Spring 18].
Visser, W. (2006). Revisiting Carroll’s CSR pyramid: An African perspective. In E. R. Pedersen & M. Hunicke (Eds.), Corporate citizenship in developing countries. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press.
Waddock, S. A., & Boyle, M. E. (1995). Dynamics of change in corporate community relations. California Management Review, 37, 125–140.
Warhurst, A. (2001). Corporate citizenship and corporate social investment: Drivers of tri-sector partnerships. Journal of Corporate Citizenship, 1, 57–73.
WBCSD. (1999). Corporate social responsibility: Meeting changing expectations. Viewed 12.09.2009, http://www.wbcsd.org/DocRoot/hbdf19Txhmk3kDxBQDWW/CSRmeeting.pdf.
WBCSD. (2000). Corporate social responsibility: Making good business sense. Viewed 12.09.2010.
WBCSD(World Business Council for Sustainable Development). (2002). Corporate social responsibility: The WBCSD’s journey. Geneva: WBCSD.
Wheeler, D., Fabig, H., & Boele, R. (2002). Paradoxes and dilemmas for stakeholder responsive firms in extractive sector: Lessons from the case of Shell and the Ogoni. Journal of Business Ethics, 39, 297–318.
Whellams, M. (2007). The role of CSR in development: A case study involving the mining industry in South America. Halifax: Saint Mary’s University.
Wikipedia. (2009). Corporate social responsibility. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_responsibility.
Internet Sources
Burger, A. (2011). Accessed December 11, 2014, from http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/07/shell-nigeria-csr-corporate-social-responsibility/
Chakraborty, S. (2010). Corporate social responsibility and the society. Accessed December 11, 2014, from http://businessthatcares.blogspot.com/2010/08/corporate-social-responsibility-and.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Amoako, G.K. (2016). CSR Practices of Multinational Companies (MNCs) and Community Needs in Africa: Evidence of Selected MNCs from Ghana. In: Vertigans, S., Idowu, S., Schmidpeter, R. (eds) Corporate Social Responsibility in Sub-Saharan Africa. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26668-8_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26668-8_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-26667-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-26668-8
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)