Chapter 1 Introduction

Corporation (HSBC) donated US$117m, Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) raised

US$63m for charity, and Bank of China (BOC) donated US$1.3m in 2013, dedicated a
large amount of resources and engaged thousands of staff members in charity and
sustainability campaigns (BOC HK, 2014; HSBC, 2013; Standard Chartered Bank,
2014d), reflecting a growing concern and increasing effort in this area from the business
world (HSBC, 2013, 2014a). Therefore, it is worthy of more empirical research effort to
identify the effectiveness of different types of CSR strategies in order for corporations
to maximize their return on investment.

In the past few decades, many multinational companies from various industries
have also been putting greater emphasis on their CSR initiatives. For example, in its
CSR and sustainability reports, McDonald’s has reviewed the evolution of its CSR
effort, from establishing a simple environmental defense fund in 1990, to developing a
global sustainability framework stakeholder team and adopting the Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines in 2011, reflecting its emphasis on
having a more comprehensive and structured framework involving various stakeholders
and standards in CSR practices (McDonald's, 2013, 2014a). Another business leader
Marks and Spencer (M&S) introduced its famous “Plan A” CSR initiative in 2007,
encompassing 100 different commitments in relation to the environment, community,
employees, suppliers, customers, and Marks and Spencer has since stepped up their
effort with an enhanced CSR plan called “Plan A 2020”, incorporating even more
commitments and comprehensive planning for CSR (Marks and Spencer, 2014a, 2014b).
It seems that some companies are engaging in only a few aspects of CSR while others
are adopting a more comprehensive perspective and are using CSR as a corporate
strategy. What is more, international organisations have introduced various CSR
measurements tools (e.g. Dow Jones sustainability index, ISO 26000, and BITC CR
index). These reflect the importance of CSR in the eyes of companies, their investors
and various stakeholders. With this in mind, the researcher investigated whether CSR is
only helping to create good feelings for stakeholders, such as the IKEA Foundation
which enabled customers to feel affiliated to IKEA’s annual soft toy campaign raising
funds for Save the Children and UNICEF (IKEA Foundation, 2014)? Or is CSR really
living up to the expectation of providing a viable strategy for creating a competitive
advantage?

It appears that companies have benefited from various types of CSR practices.
Among the top 20 companies in the CSR Survey of Hang Seng Index (HSI) constituent