Corporate Social Responsibilities Practices In Manufacturing Industries: A Case Study On East Africa Tiger Brands Industries Plc.

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis under the title “corporate social responsibilities practices in manufacturing industries: a case study on East Africa Tiger Brands Industries PLC” is to explore and revisit the strategy of the East Africa’s corporate social responsibility in and around its Bishoftu base, whether it establish smooth relationship between the company and the community around. Evidences show despite existing initiatives corporate social responsibility practices of most firms in Ethiopia is not systematically developed and supported with policies and strategies to encourage key stakeholders participation, and consequently is not appropriately managed. Its broad and vital positive socio-economic impacts have been diminished and narrowed, to merely appear as a good gesture and handover. For example, most employees and operating area community members of East Africa Africa Tiger Brands Industries PLC believe that the company’s CSR endeavor is a response to governmental and CBO’s needs based call which limited the effort simply as the company’s promotional platform. Therefore, the general objective of this study is to investigate the CSR initiatives of Ethiopian firms by giving special focus to stakeholders and legitimacy theories. This study is a descriptive study which used semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions to collect data from respondents selected based on purposive sampling techniques. The data collected from in-depth interviews were analyzed using qualitative analysis methodologies. In this paper, it was identified that the practice of CSR has a lot of shortcomings. Hence, the transformative issue/role of CSR which is very vital in all ethical business operation activities and its capacity to promote societal belongingness that meant to play an enormous role in sustaining the business is overlooked. Finally, based on the findings of the descriptive study both theoretical and practical recommendations are suggested. This study, therefore, contributes a lot to the improvement of current CSR practice and further research work on the topic by providing indicative solutions for companies and stakeholders.