Indian and Multinational Companies’ CSR Communication Through Annual Reports

Abstract:     
Purpose: The analyse the CSR communication made by the Indian companies operating in the Information and Technology (IT) sector in India and to compare them with the MNCs operating in the same sector.

Design/Methodology/ Approach: Annual reports are used as a medium of communication and content analysis is employed to analyse the focus and intensity of CSR communication. Annual reports of 100 companies operating in the IT sector were examined.

Findings: Both Indian and the MNCs target and lay importance to similar groups of stakeholders for their CSR communication but the area of focus for the specific stakeholder varies. For the Human Resource, the MNCs address quality of work life more while the Indian companies focus upon the monetary benefits provided. Similarly for customers, the focus of the MNCs is the quality of product while the Indian companies focus upon the price as a parameter. Indian outperform the MNCs in their environment related disclosure while society as a stakeholder is least attended to through CSR communication made through annual reports.

Research Limitations/ implications: The paper considers annual reports only and no other medium of CSR communication. The study is limited to the companies operating in the IT sector only.

Originality/ Value: A comparison of the Indian companies and the MNCs on similar parameters has not been explored and therefore the results help bring out the communication strengths and weakness of the Indian companies and the MNCs.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 23

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), CSR Communication, Annual Reports, Content Analysis, Information and Technology Sector, Indian companies and MNC

JEL Classification: M14

Accepted Paper Series