Communicating CSR: practices among Switzerland's top 300 companies

Abstract

Purpose -To provide a picture of the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication among the top 300 companies in Switzerland and to investigate how favorable the cultural context is for this kind of communication.Methodology/approach -The investigation of the top 300 companies in Switzerland was conducted using a written survey that built on previous studies.Findings: CSR communication in Switzerland appears to be well developed, but still has broad margins for development. Examples are provided on how to improve CSR communication. Such improvements should be relatively easy to implement since Switzerland, it is argued, appears to be open to CSR communication.Research Limitations/Implications -The investigation considered only the communication objectives toward a limited range of stakeholders, such as clients, shareholders, and employees. The survey was conducted among the top 300 companies in Switzerland; these companies are not necessarily representative of the whole Swiss business community.Practical implications -The paper describes the elements that should be considered in order to develop an effective CSR communication. These elements are synergies between issues, objectives, and channels; criteria for a credible social report; the exploitation of the potentialities of CSR advertising and the web; and the understanding of the national context where the organization is operating.Originality/value -This paper focuses on CSR communication, an area that has received limited attention in CSR research. Organizations may find interesting hints on how to develop effective CSR communication.

Trends and determinants of corporate non-financial disclosure in Greece

“…Under the typology of Tixier (2003) and Birth et al (2008), the Greek case resembles a Latin-oriented NFD approach with all the aforementioned characteristics such an attitude indicates. In addition, in Visser's (2010) continuum of CSR embeddedness in organizational culture, the majority of the largest Greek firms assessed would pertain to charitable and promotional CSR since it is less than five firms which are articulating (i.e.…”

“…Interpreting Tixier's typology, Birth et al (2008) defines three elements that define the type of communication practices a firm follows. The first refers to the integration of CSR into the corporate vision and strategy.…”

Scepticism in CSR Advertisements

“…Similarly, only half of the companies surveyed report their associations with other institutions in their advertisements. According to the empirical evidence, the advertisements published by corporations do not seem to address the concerns raised by some authors (for example, Morsing et al 2008;Birth et al 2008;Pomering/Johnson 2009) regarding scepticism. The way corporations develop their advertisements only provide more fuel for the growing concern regarding the lack of transparency and credibility in CSR communications, specifi cally in advertising.…”

“…Although companies use a wide range of channels for CSR communication (social reports, thematic reports, codes of conduct, websites, stakeholder consultations, internal channels, awards and events, cause-related marketing, product packaging, interventions in the press and on TV and sales points), three channels in particular seem to play a prominent role: social reports, web sites and advertising (Birth et al 2008). Advertising is the least researched among the three of them (Farache/Perks 2010).…”

Responsabilidade social corporativa na indústria relojoeira suíça: percepções e práticas

“…We could only find two studies that investigated the CSR activities of Swiss companies (Birth, Illia, Lurati andZamparini, 2008, Liebig, 2010). These two studies, and anecdotal evidence, suggest that CSR is being practiced by Swiss corporations.…”