This chapter examines cultural issues related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) as practiced by German firms operating in Poland. Recognizing the interdependence of a corporation’s social and financial performance, the chapter attempts to analyze how German firms can increase profit through good social performance. However, implementing CSR measures requires detailed knowledge of Polish society and culture. Behavior and attitudes must be considered to understand a company’s CSR target group andachieve the desired financial return from investments in CSR. The authors characterize the most profitable types of CSR initiatives available to firms operating in Poland.

Given the overwhelming expansion of globalization that has reduced the entire globe to a small village, especially in international business activities, there is a pressing need to design a new paradigm of moral rules for global business, in order to take care of emerging moral exigencies in corporate activities—especially multinational activities, which have grave cross-cultural moral implications. While the international business arena has addressed this new reality by fashioning various moral orders to guideactivities in the international business scene, this paper observes that the developing countries of the world have been at the receiving end of the moral configuration of global business. This is why the responses of most developing countries to the global business moral order is predicated on resolving the apparent conflicts generated by this moral order vis-à-vis the value systems of individual countries. Specifically, the paper examines the issue of a global business moral order with particular focus on how it is faring in developing countries. It notes that in these countries, the moral order is merely a paper tiger due to its weak implementation framework, whenceits inability to make any meaningful impact in developing countries. After a critical survey of the Nigerian business terrain, this paper concludes that the global business moral order barely impacts the Nigerian situation despite the promise of better, honest, fair, and sustainable business practices implied by corporate social responsibility.

Five different Latin American experiences help us to understand the impacts of corporate social responsibility on communities. We focus on communities composed of low-income populations to compare types of interventions, their main characteristics, spaces for community participation, and some results and impacts. Some of the findings indicate that (a) a company’s enlightened self-interest in its CSR program ensures its commitment to the program and the program’s sustainability; (b) community involvement from the outset in defining a project increases the probability of success, since corporations cannot assume they understand the needs of a community by taking them at face value; (c) projects do not create untenable expectations in local communities when they consider the whole life cycle and the sustainability of the investment after an appropriate exit strategy is executed; and (d) financial resources are only part of the equation because corporations can have enormous impacts with limited financing if programs are well defined and supported.

The paper focuses on the rapidly evolving concept of “harmful products” and its connection with marketing practices. It examines (a) products generally recognized as harmful, and (b) innocuous products that are sometimes (unintentionally) transformed into harmful ones by marketing activities. We indicate how the effects of these activities depend on individual perceptions as well as the norms of social and business ethics. We advocate the creation of marketing codes of ethics for particular product categories, as well as the dissemination of product information that can link the ethical codes with individual values. We illustrate these concepts with a case study of the fragrance industry and olfactory marketing.

In a perfect world, physicians and drug producers would have only one goal: to advance the health of their patients. Unfortunately, ours is not a perfect world. While every physician’s prime responsibility—by oath and by law—is to the patient, every pharmaceutical producer’s first and foremost obligation, by design, is to shareholders and employees. Their ultimate objectives are diagonally diverse. This situation calls for a code of ethics to govern the marketing and prescription of pharmaceuticals. This paper attempts to identifythe business practices prevailing in the Indian pharmaceutical industry, in order to provide a basis for constructing an appropriate code of ethics. The research is based on surveys or in-depth interviews of physicians, patients, retail pharmacists, and drug manufacturers.

Most major pharmaceutical companies have corporate social responsibility policies that pledge their commitment to improving the health and quality of life of people around the world. Yet these same companies also have difficulty in ensuring that developing countries have access to affordable medications. In the late 1990s, Brazil engaged in a heated battle with large US-backed multinational pharmaceutical companies. Brazil was facing a growing HIV epidemic and was determined to provide treatment to those in need. This required massive price reductions on HIV medications. Although met with resistance, Brazil’s campaign eventually resulted in the negotiation of significant price reductions. Our study examines how Brazil was able to secure these price concessions. We conclude that corporate social responsibility initiatives must be viewed as a dynamic interaction between multiple actors. Our study highlights the importance of governmental action, in both the national and international forums, to negotiate pro-actively with companies to ensure that CSR commitments are met.

We investigate the growing use of information and communication technology in Nigeria and its potential as a tool to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic through information management. Potential applications include data gathering for research and disease tracking, knowledge sharing, and dissemination of information on research findings, prevention methods, available care and support, and patient rights. The research is based on 1450 responses to a widely distributed questionnaire.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) continues to evolve as an important paradigm for business strategy. There is much disparate information about it available; evaluating that information and deciding what applies to any given organisation is thus becoming a more complicated task. With an idea to simplifying this process, the Sustainable Development Unit at the Royal Institute for International Affairs (RIIA) considered how it might position itself as an information filter for CSR generally. The research summarised here concludes that CSR is too large and vague a concept to be practical or applicable, and suggests that an international organisation such as RIIA should concentrate on creating opportunities for focusing the idea, rather than actually attempting to effect practical change. Whether these opportunities emerge out of discussion, analysis, research, policy briefings, or by other means, will depend on the nature and timing of any specific topic within the overall CSR context.