Comparing Corporate Social Responsibilities in Lao PDR and Thailand: International Business and Poverty Alleviation

As part of our AusAID Development Research Award Scheme (ADRAS) project, we have focused on the condition of economic poverty, and how corporate social responsibility from MNCs support such tragic conditions in Thailand and Lao PDR.  So far, we have conducted the literature review in international business and community studies. 

We have recently published a paper on CSR and poverty in Thailand and Lao PDR in the International Journal of Studies in Thai Business, Society & Culture, an open access Thai studies journal. We hope that the public will be able to read this paper and consider new ways of their poverty-related CSR activities. This is the abstract of the paper. 

Abstract:

Poverty has long been one of the major social problems in Thailand and Laos. By examining the geopolitics of poverty and international business, this paper argues that although corporate social responsibility (CSR) in developing countries has been increasingly gaining attention, issues of particular concern to stakeholders in the West are those which dominate the poverty-related CSR  agenda. This is partly because Multinational corporations (MNCs)’ primary stakeholders are located in the West and CSR initiatives in Thailand and Laos are targeted at  these audiences rather than oriented towards their beneficiaries in the host countries. Local Thai and Laotian factors promoting poverty alleviation activities among MNCs seem to be missing in the literature. Some practical CSR points from the literature confirm that poverty-related CSR activities must be integrated with social issues such as health, education and governance in Thailand and Lao PDR. 

Full paper can be accessed here.