An examination of the contribution of corporate social responsibility in a resource extraction industry to social sustainability: a case study of Lafarge Mining South Africa (Pty) Ltd and Ridgeview Quarry.
Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Corporate social responsibility is increasingly becoming an important component of the \nbusiness world. With growing scrutiny of commercial operations, businesses are \nincreasingly being driven to satisfy the expectations of society in order to thrive. In \nessence, businesses adopting corporate social responsibility believe that by operating \nethically and responsibly, they have a better opportunity of success. This thesis examines \nLafarge Mining South Africa and its Ridgeview Quarry located in Durban, South Africa, in \norder to assess the contribution to social sustainability of corporate social responsibility \npractices in the resource extraction industry. Literature used for this research is compiled \nfrom concepts such as sustainable development, social sustainability, social justice, public \nparticipation, vulnerability and well-being and furthermore evaluates conventional \narguments for corporate social responsibility. \nThe methodology used for this research was based on a qualitative approach, where both \nsecondary and primary data were used. The empirical materials needed for this research was \ncollected through in-depth interviews conducted with stakeholders involved within the \nsocial upliftment programmes as well as discussions forums. Furthermore, purposive \nsampling was used for this study, as the study was concerned with individuals involved \nwith the discussion forum and the social responsibility programmes. The thesis investigates \nthe nature of public participation in the discussion forum with respect to social \nsustainability. With regards to the discussion forum, meetings were held intermittently, on \nan ad hoc basis, therefore affecting the degree to which total social sustainability was \nachieved in the decision-making process. However, it was found that when meetings were \nconvened that the discussion forum was inclusive and in no way discouraged any form of \nparticipation from the community, hence contributing to some form of social sustainability. \nThe research encompassed aspects of evaluation research, whereby summative evaluation \nand impact evaluation was used to summarise information and examine the outcomes of \nthe two corporate social responsibility initiatives, namely; the education-related and the \nskills-related social upliftment programmes. The research evaluated these two \nprogrammes, in order to assess the degree to which social sustain ability was achieved. \nHowever these initiatives are a small part of the broader corporate social responsibility \nagenda. The key findings of the research were that social sustainability was very weak. \nMinimal difficulties were experienced by participants in the education-related social \nupliftment programme, where one of the challenges was to uplift learners from grassroots \nlevel (primary school level). However, with regards to the skills-related social upliftment \nprogramme, individuals participating in the project, experienced more difficulties than \ncompared to those participating within the education-related social upliftment programme. \nDifficulties that arose with regards to the skills-related social upliftment programme were \nthat Lafarge Mining South Africa reneged on certain material promises and showed no \ninterest in monitoring how the programme was facilitated. Furthermore, participation in the \nprogramme did not secure any employment opportunities for the women. \nThus corporate social responsibility has become a major focus of interest in society. \nCorporate social responsibility is not just a buzzword for businesses, it has developed into \nan invaluable tool for exploring ways to reduce and manage social and bio-physical costs, \nas well as provide many businesses with the opportunity to be successful. However, \nachieving corporate sustainability is not an easy task and is accompanied by a number of \nchallenges
Author: Naadiya. Nadasen
Language: English
Subfield: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2142122040