Theory and Practice of Corporate Social Responsibility in a Developing Country Context

Corporate entities engage in businessBusiness with a profitProfit, profit motive motive, but host communitiesCommunity, communities, local communities suffer displacementDisplacement , loss of livelihoodLoss of livelihood , workplace hazards, environmentalEnvironmental pollutionPollution, air, water , resourcesResource, resources, resource curse depletion and other such risks. These would be acceptable, if there is an overall betterment of life of local communitiesCommunity, communities, local communities with an equitable distribution of wealth. The medieval practices of exploitation unmindful of consequences are out of place in modern capitalismCapitalism . There is a growing realization that sustainable growth and success can be achieved by businesses only by recognizing socialSocial responsibilities and contributing to socioeconomic progress of host societySociety and countryCountry . There is a paradigm shift in corporate accountabilityAccountability from ‘shareholdersShareholders, shareholder value only’ to ‘all stakeholders’ with its evolution from philanthropyPhilanthropy, philanthropic, philanthropic responsibility , charityCharity , trusteeshipTrusteeship , transparencyTransparency , social accountabilitySocial accountability and sustainable businessBusiness strategyStrategy to a responsibilityResponsibility . The concept and implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR)Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) differ much between developed countriesDeveloped Countries and developing nations of AsiaAsia , AfricaAfrica, sub-Saharan Africa and South AmericaLatin America (South America) . The diamondDiamond mining has deservingly earned a great deal of notoriety from looting, stealing, and reckless exploitation and ruining of host communitiesCommunity, communities, local communities and countries. Terms like ‘blood diamondsBlood diamonds ‘ and’conflict diamondsConflict diamonds ‘ are the examples. This chapter attempts to explore, if cooperation, accountabilityAccountability , fair playFair play and socialSocial valuesValues are incorporated in Zimbabwe’s MarangeMarange diamondDiamond fields, comparison of its record with that of other mining countries, examine the applicability of CSRCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of developed countriesDeveloped Countries to developing nations, and drawing relevant conclusions and suggestions to enable developing countriesDeveloping Countries bridge gaps in their CSRCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. It has been concluded that even the best endowed countryCountry in natural resourcesNatural resources might remain poor with bad CSRCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices, if resources are not properly managed.