Assessment of corporate social performance has become one of the widely researched areas due to its practical implications. The article assesses the social performance of Indian multinational manufacturing companies on the twin dimensions of strategic governance and responsibility towards primary stakeholders. Using the data collected from corporate social responsibility (CSR) managers through a measurement tool, Indian multinational manufacturing companies have been found to be performing just about average. Strategic governance received the highest weightage, as generated with the help of expert opinion, followed by customers, investors, employees, communities and then suppliers. The results also revealed that strategic governance explained significant variation in stakeholders' responsibility. The findings give out important implications for CSR managers and overall management of the companies.

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Subject area The subject area is corporate social responsibility (CSR). Study level/applicability The study is applicable to undergraduate- and graduate-level courses on CSR. Case overview The case discusses the issue of integrating CSR in TPDDL’s (TPDDL – Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited) business model. TPDDL was formed as the result of a joint venture between Delhi Vidyut Board and Tata Power. At the time of the joint venture, a large number of users of electricity in Jhuggi-Jhopdi (JJ) clusters were not paying for electricity usage. A huge number of residents were not even in the system where they could be billed. The ones who were in the system had strong political banking as they were huge vote banks and hence would not pay. Only 40 per cent of electricity that was going to JJ cluster was billed due to this TPDDL was incurring huge commercial losses. As residents had very low income, TPDDL decided to invest in CSR activities to train the residents so that they could secure a job and pay the bills as well. Mr Praveer Sinha, MD and chief executive officer (CEO), urged his team to bring 100 per cent JJ clusters under the billing net without any coercive measures. TPDDL adopted parent company Tata’s CSR code and came up with innovative ways of engaging with these communities. Expected learning outcomes The outcomes are: strategic CSR initiatives for business excellence; incorporating CSR in existing business Model 3; role of stakeholders in CSR implementation; and benefits accruing from CSR activities. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.