scholarly journals Circular economy and corporate social responsibility in the agricultural system: Cases study of the Italian agri-food industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (No. 11) ◽  
pp. 489-498
Author(s):  
Simona Fortunati ◽  
Donato Morea ◽  
Enrico Maria Mosconi

The persistent exploitation of natural resources and the consequent use of consumption are driving global food demand with the result that agricultural activity is becoming less and less environmentally friendly. The circular economy (CE) can become a valid alternative, inserting the economic-agricultural system into the harmonic process of material circulation. The corporate social responsibility (CSR) model is particularly interesting not only because of the ethical dimension of the company but also as a factor of strategic business improvement that combines the concepts of CSR and CE as possible solutions for developing sustainable business processes. The objective of the work is to highlight a detailed framework of how the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) of the Italian agri-food industry can provide an adequate level of communication, circular strategies and social responsibility practices. The research methodology is based on a qualitative multiple study conducted on a sample of nine companies in the Italian territory. The study highlights the attention of companies on the issues of the CE for the achievement of the set sustainable objectives and the attention to CSR and CE practices. The work has several implications. It provides a further understanding of CSR and CE policies as enabling factors for the development of sustainable organizational performance in agriculture. Moreover, it better investigates the relationship between CSR and the CE. Finally, it analyses the SMEs state of the art in the CE field and strengthens the concept of CE by analysing corporate practices consistent with sustainability reports.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanika Saxena ◽  
Sunita Balani ◽  
Pallavi Srivastava

Purpose This study aims to review the extant literature in pharmaceutical sector on corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability and organizational performance to explore if a relationship exists among these three elements. Design/methodology/approach A total of 301 research articles were collected from online databases. A new ECG framework representing environment, community and growth was used to classify the collected literature under the three elements: CSR, sustainability and organizational performance. Findings Key findings under the identified categories are: A) Environment: Strict legislation and green chemistry have revolutionized the pharmaceutical sector by decreasing manufacturing costs, minimizing the environmental footprint and improving compliance with regulations. B) Community: Community goodwill and organization’s image have gained importance under the influence of external and internal stakeholders. C) Growth: A weak relationship exists between CSR and organizational performance but increases engagement in sustainability practices which has led to increased market performance. Effective integration of social and environmental goals with strategic business processes could result in long-term profits. Originality/value This study focuses on the extant literature to identify the significance of CSR and sustainability on the organizational performance of the pharmaceutical sector. The propositions developed in this study will help in identifying the interdependency of the aforementioned three elements opening further possibilities of in-depth sector specific studies.


Author(s):  
Min-Jik Kim ◽  
Byung-Jik Kim

Although there has been extensive research on the corporate social responsibility (CSR)–performance link, full understanding is still elusive. A possible reason for this is the limited understanding of the underlying processes that affect the relationship. Grounded in institutional theory, which emphasizes the importance of micro-level intermediating processes (e.g., employees’ perceptions and attitudes) to explain a macro-level association (i.e., CSR to organizational performance), we built a moderated mediation model where: (i) organization commitment mediated the influence of CSR on organizational performance, and (ii) an employee’s prosocial motivation moderated the relationship between CSR and organizational commitment. Using three-wave time-lagged survey data obtained from 302 Korean workers, we found that organizational commitment is an important micro-level process in the CSR–performance link, and that the level of an employee’s prosocial motivation can positively moderate that link. We discuss theoretical and practical implications, along with limitations and future research directions.


Author(s):  
Elena Candelo ◽  
Cecilia Casalegno ◽  
Chiara Civera

The chapter aims at investigating the effects that the Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability exerts on consumers' perception considering the fast food industry in Italy. the McDonald's case study has been developed through managerial interviews and formal documents analysis in order to report on its strategies for CSR activities implementation and their communication in Italy. Moreover, through surveys conducted in Italy, the case study has been tested on a particular group of young consumers - Generation Z - less influenced by the past McDonald's activity in order to demonstrate how communications of sustainability are better believed and perceived, when a brand has a long tradition of misperceptions.


Author(s):  
Murako Saito

Corporate environment changing with the advent of information technology and with diversified organization has been inquired to redesign to transform into an intelligent and innovative organization, so that corporate vision and organizational goals in the subsystem of corporate are provided for being shared by multidisciplinary workers and other stakeholders, and corporate social responsibility can also be shared by all the participants. System matching between developing levels in technological systems, and also cognitive fit in the levels of individual, team/group and organization are required not only to maintain good balance, but also to enhance operational and organizational resilience in making appropriate shifts to adapt to changing social environment. To make the shift successfully, cognitive fit or value alignment between individuals and collectives in the environment of advanced technologies is to be studied, so that corporate social responsibility, or for corporate prosperity is to be shared by all the stakeholders.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manh-Hoang Do ◽  
Yung-Fu Huang ◽  
Thi-Nga Do

PurposeThis article aims to evaluate total quality management (TQM)-enabling factors' impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and business performance through evidence from Vietnamese coffee firms.Design/methodology/approachBased on collecting data via in-depth face-to-face interviews with employees, who are working in the Vietnamese coffee companies. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach has been employed to investigate the relationship among the TQM-enabling factors, corporate social performance (CSP) and business performance.FindingsA total of 13 TQM-enabling factors have been identified and divided into two categories, namely human and functional. The statistical results revealed a positive signal to remarkably enhance CSP and business performance by adopting those TQM-enabling factors into Vietnamese coffee firms.Research limitations/implicationsThe framework model of this research should be evaluated in different contexts worldwide or in another sector that can further identify the TQM-enabling factor and the correlation among these constructs.Practical implicationsThis article provides top managers of Vietnamese coffee firms with knowledge of TQM-enabling factors that may enable them to meet superior performance, including CSP, finance and reputation.Originality/valueThis is a unique study to employ the approach into the Vietnamese coffee industry context up-to-date, which is one of the essential sectors affecting Vietnam's sustainable development.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 2329
Author(s):  
Edita Olaizola ◽  
Rafael Morales-Sánchez ◽  
Marcos Eguiguren Huerta

Since the end of the last century, different approaches for corporate management have been appearing that try to incorporate the social advances that are being produced and disseminated thanks to the greater capacity of communication available through social networks and other traditional avenues. Among the best known are Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, the Circular Economy, and Collaborative Economics. All of them add value to organisations, and all of them have a common characteristic: they are anthropocentric approaches. Our proposal goes a step further: we need a worldview that is capable of placing organisations in a position of continuous learning looking at nature, because it is the best way to integrate into it as a more ecosystem and thus achieve its flowering respecting the once to all the other subsystems that make up the planet: Organizational Biomimicry. This work compares the anthropocentric vision with the worldview at the same time that it offers a guide of the essential steps so that Organizational Biomimicry is the new model of corporate management.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document