FIAS » Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility

El Salvador - Building a framework for Corporate Social Responsibility as a development tool - Spanish Version (2006)

The objective was to improve the competitiveness of the Salvadoran economy by integrating corporate social responsibility more successfully into the policies and practices of key industries, focused in this pilot stage on coffee, sugar and apparel sectors.

Strengthening Russia’s Engagement with Market-based Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Conclusions and Recommendations from Experience in Forestry and Lessons for other Sectors (November 2005)

FIAS designed this study for the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Federal Forest Agency to analyze voluntary forest certification in Russia as a tool of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), to measure the economic benefits, if any, to promote these practices in the forestry sector, if warranted, by suggesting the removal of administrative barriers, and to find applications to other sectors of the Russian economy. The study describes the world-wide development of voluntary forest certification as a mechanism to provide international and domestic buyers with an assurance that Russian forest products are not derived from environmentally destructive practices.

Establishing CSR Drivers in Agribusiness (August 2005)

From the perspective of countries supplying retailers and branded companies, the adoption of CSR standards can be to be used to enhance competitiveness. One of the tools that the Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) of the World Bank Group uses to advise southern governments on strategies to improve productivity and competitiveness is Value Chain Analysis (VCA). FIAS has commissioned this report to enable it to adapt its approach to VCA to include an understanding of the factors enabling or hindering the adoption of CSR along agricultural supply chains. It would like to consider in more depth how governments can use CSR to promote agricultural exports and better integrate smaller producers into international food supply-chains. This report provides an overview of recent trends in CSR codes of conduct in the agriculture sector and explores how VCA can be used to highlight the nature of codes, what drives their adoption and factors affecting their implementation. It explores the enabling environment for the adoption of CSR practices, particularly the business case and the role that governments can play to facilitate the adoption of CSR, thereby improving competitiveness and increasing agricultural exports.

CSR in the Tourism Industry? The Status of and Potential for Certification, Codes of Conduct and Guidelines (June 2005)

This study is a follow-up to earlier reports commissioned by the World Bank Group which have assessed Company Codes of Conduct and International Standards, Implementation Mechanisms for Codes of Conducts as well as various Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) reports. The objective of this study was to assess whether the development of national certification schemes may help countries to a) address expectations of tourists, investors and supply chain actors such as tour operators and travel agencies, b) ensure the sustainable development of their tourism industry, c) ensure a localisation of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda by guaranteeing that certification standards are developed in accordance with national criteria and d) whether certification schemes have contributed to spreading sustainable tourism practices or would align with international criteria or standards.

Cambodia Corporate Social Responsibility in the Apparel Sector and Potential Implications for Other Industry Sectors (2005)

The objective of the project was to assist the Ministry of Commerce and the industry to move away from current dependence on a quota-focused strategy towards a more market-led and sustainable strategy.