Mexico: An overview of CSR programmes

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept that has been present in the literature for more than a decade. This concept encourages corporations to make substantial commitments to society by taking into account their social, environmental and economic impacts on the environment and society. At a first glance, CSR programmmes would benefit both the corporation and society; however, this could be an oversimplification and inaccurate depiction of Mexican CSR programmes. The findings in this study have revealed some important and at the same time disturbing insights. CSR benefits seem to be blurred by a lack of information and access to information; as a consequence, the field of Corporate Social Responsibility is still not well known in Mexico. This has adversely affected Mexicans' ability to understand and support corporations with social responsibility programmes. Although Mexicans would like to participate in charitable programmes promoted by corporations; some Mexicans hesitate to participate because they are suspicious about the corporations' genuine social concerns. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.