Reimagining Corporate Social Responsibility in the Era of COVID-19: Embedding Resilience and Promoting Corporate Social Competence

Abstract

The debate over corporate objectives and how companies deal with amplified existing societal inequalities and vulnerabilities has received increasing attention in recent years, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic encouraged companies and policy makers to consider ways to develop a more enabling institutional environment, not only to tackle the ongoing crisis but also to prepare for similar future tests. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the significance and effectiveness of ex ante corporate social responsibility (CSR) law approaches in tackling the challenges brought by the pandemic. We investigate the uniqueness of the sustainable development challenges in the era of the pandemic, and introduce “corporate social competence” as a compliance principle in response to the need for forward-looking approaches to risk management and strategic planning. We use two ex ante legislative approaches in company law, namely mandatory CSR policy and legally recognised inclusive business models, as examples to illuminate the contribution of company law to navigate the pandemic beyond philanthropic CSR actions.

Innovative Activity in SMEs: Critical Success Factors to Achieve Sustainable Business Growth

“…Based on previous research performed in the United States, almost 90% of customers stated that they would purchase a product from a firm that has supported an important issue (Schooley, 2021). Similar findings have been founded, signifying that COVID-19 has increased attention toward CSR (Zhao, 2021). He and Harris (2020) also suggested that this pandemic has provided business firms greater opportunities to engage in CSR initiatives.…”

Value-Based Governance as a Performance Element in Social and Solidarity Economy Organizations: A French Sustainable Post-Modern Proposal

“…This includes increasing people's ability to listen to, understand, and appreciate one another despite their differences and vulnerabilities in order to create solidarities [49]. This is particularly true in a Covid Era [50], which is a crisis time. The greater this mutual understanding and reciprocal respect, the more the outcomes of these overtly cooperative relationships will be rich and fruitful.…”

Contexto de la Pandemia COVID-19 y la Nueva Realidad Empresarial

“…En ese sentido, una de las oportunidades que se rescata de esta crisis es que las organizaciones consideraron adoptar prácticas de RSE 1 para desarrollar un entorno más favorable. Además, estas prácticas permiten a las empresas ser más resilientes cuando se trata de responder a futuras amenazas debido a que ya contarán con planes de contingencia (Zhao, 2021). En efecto, la coyuntura influyó a que las organizaciones adopten medidas más auténticas de RSE 1 que contribuyan a lidiar con los desafíos sociales y ambientales a nivel internacional.…”

“…Sin embargo, esta crisis despertó en estas compañías una gran sensibilización con sus grupos de interés y las motivó a fomentar el desarrollo sostenible logrando en muchas de ellas una gran reputación corporativa (Raimo et al, 2021). Junto a ello, también permitió que estas se fortalezcan frente a las futuras adversidades (Zhao, 2021) y que contribuyan a combatir las diversas falencias que el mundo empresarial presenta (He y Harris, 2020).…”