Does Corporate Social Responsibility contribute to Performance in Sugar Manufacturing Firms?

Abstract

: The study investigated effects of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on performance of organizations by focusing on its four fundamental components: economic, social, political and philanthropic. Using 8 sugar manufacturing firms, the study findings indicated that corporate social responsibility to have a predictive power and it could explain variations in firm performance. Ability to explain variations in company performance was realized through sales volume by 18% (R2 = 0.180), capacity utilization by 16% (R2 = 0.160) while profitability after tax by 20.3% (R2 = 0.203). Findings of CSR performance results show that though CSR activities have been viewed to contradict companies‟ ultimate mandate of profit making and sidetracking organization core activities, statistical results from this study shows positive performance outcomes especially profitability. This may be attributed to positive company image and brand as a result of CSR activities.