CSR, cooperation and the internationalisation of Spanish business

Domingo García-Marzá y Fernando NavarroCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a new organisational paradigm which is integrated on a voluntary basis (that is, without legal obligation) into Spanish companies’ strategy. Alongside the theoretical discourse, rules and regulations (public and private) are increasing, the intention of which is to normalise this voluntary activity. However, these rules and public and international policies are not always coherent with each other, especially when it is a case of combining economic and commercial interests for the internationalisation of businesses in developing countries or countries undergoing post-war reconstruction with public policies aimed at development cooperation.

The increasing demand for transparency means that businesses are using ethical codes and sustainability reports. Nonetheless, the information that they give regarding their CSR policies beyond their own borders (for example, in middle income countries/ countries undergoing post-war reconstruction) is still too scarce and fragmented to be able to evaluate the extent to which CSR can serve as a catalyst between legitimate interest in business profits and the equally legitimate interest in social, political and economic development in countries emerging from a conflict scenario, or which are halfway towards development.

This article by Fernando Navarro García y Domingo García-Marzá, briefly reviews the main tools, rules and systems that are most widespread among businesses, as well as the most relevant national and international public policies with regard to CSR

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Bio author: Domingo García-Marzá
University lecturer in Business Ethics at the Universitat Jaume I, in Castellón. He holds a PhD in Philosophy from Valencia University and also carried out further study at the Universities of Frankfurt and St Gallen.

Bio author: Fernando Navarro García
A graduate in Law, he has spent the most part of his professional life working for the private sector, but in 2001 he changed career paths to coordinate a humanitarian project in Angola for a year and a half.

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