Recommended actions to foster the adoption of Corporate Social ...

OrganizationWEFIndexNumber of Countriesin the IndexArgentina’s RankingPrivate sector employmentof women 117 88UNICEF Child rights risk 192 58Amnesty International andHuman Research Watch 7 Intrinsic human rights risk 194 110International LaborOrganization 8 Child labor 191 1073 Current state of CSRMost Argentinean SMEs are unfamiliar with theconcept of CSR and therefore do not consider it anessential factor toward progress. They believe theyneed to solve their structural problems beforefocusing on social and environmental issues.Nonetheless, research supports a positiveperspective on CSR in the long-term, because of aclear willingness to improve and be competitive.Regarding the meaning of CSR in Argentina, 86percent of the people interviewed answered thatCSR means “to guarantee safe and healthyproducts,” 84 percent think that CSR means “to notdamage the environment,” and 81 percent believethat it means “to treat workers equitably” (Anselmi,2005). In the stakeholder interviews, a distinctionwas made between primary and secondaryresponsibilities for SMEs. There was a generalconsensus that the marketplace, workplace andenvironment were primary responsibilities, whilethe community was a secondary responsibility. 9In 2005, Argentina held the 58 th position out of 83in AccountAbility's National CorporateResponsibility Index. However, in the CSR Monitorsurvey for 2005, distributed by CanadianGlobeScan Institute, Argentina shows a positiveinclination for CSR development. This surveyconsists of 1000 interviews conducted in each ofthe 19 participating countries. Argentina ranked 8out of 19 (54 percent agreed) in the potential forlaws to effectively support the implementation of CSR.Impressively, in the category on the perception ofbusinesses as actors that care about societalimprovement, Argentina ranked 18 th out of 19.Casali (2004) identifies several characteristics ofArgentinean SMEs that support the effectiveimplementation of CSR in their operations: i) SMEsare usually family run companies with loosemanagement structures, which gives them a moreflexible decision making processes and therefore itmay be easier to introduce changes and strategyinnovations through employer motivated efforts; ii)SMEs usually have close relationships with thecommunity, their suppliers and their clients; iii)nearly all SMEs already implement aspects of CSRin their activities, but not in a conscious andsystematic way – if they can develop deliberate CSRpractices the effects will be far more noticeable.Concerning the actors, the stakeholders interviewedrecognized civil society as the first mover duringthe 2001 crisis, and also recognized the role ofpublic authorities in fostering CSR. In regards topublic authorities, Argentina is one of twofederations in South America (Brazil is the other).As a result, there is a high degree ofdecentralization, allowing provinces to be importantplayers in the promotion of CSR.7 www.maplecroft.com8 "The end of child labor: Within reach", 2005, shows that the actual number of child laborers worldwide fell by 11 percent between2000 and 2004, that is from 246 million to 218 million. www.maplecroft.com9 It was decided that there were other entities that had a stronger responsibility for social and community issues. Therefore, SMEsshould have a policy on not damaging the community rather than on helping it.Argentina15