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2016 Autumn | Business & Sustainability, Education & Outreach, Policy & Regulation

How big business can localize corporate social responsibility to their advantage

Student(s):

Diana Lloyd-Jones

Program or Department(s):

  • Program on the Environment
  • University of Washington

Site supervisor(s):

Seth Rongkawit

Partner(s):

  • InterIm CDA Wilderness Inner-City Leadership Development (WILD) Youth Program

Faculty advisor(s):

Ned Schaumberg, Yen-Chu Weng Professors of Environmental Studies at the University of Washington

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a recent idea being implemented into business that attempts to convey a company’s consideration of their environmental and social impacts. In its newness, its attention has been focused on a macro-scale, like major product changes. For this reason, I researched the potential of CSR when implemented at local levels of production, such as the community level. I wanted to analyze local level CSR initiatives and understand how they impact modern-day business. Via a literature review and case study, findings show that local CSR efforts help connect multinational brands to small communities in various ways.