Embedding Corporate Social Responsibility into Business Practice: Lessons Learned from New Zealand

The chapter contributes to the understanding of the changing role of business in society within a New Zealand context. Academics in management and organisation widely share the assumption that the task of government is to provide their respective society’s public goods, while the business of the business community is to do business—with shareholder primacy being central to free enterprise. However, this trend is changing and many companies have started to embed reporting initiatives, and social and environmental responsibilities that go beyond the minimum legal requirements of corporate governance and what is viewed as corporate social responsibility (CSR). In recent years, the importance of the notion of CSR is rising in New Zealand, however, we still have limited understanding of whether it is embedded into ultimate objectives of businesses. The New Zealand government has aspired to be the first country which is well and truly sustainable, a goal suggested by the former Prime Minister Helen Clark in 2006. As the country is one of the least corrupt countries in the world; the new Code of Corporate Governance launched in October 2017; and, growing demands from investors a change for a better and more complete CSR environment appears to be underway. This chapter takes into account the evolution of CSR in New Zealand. The chapter explains environmental laws; identifies the socio-economic factors that influence CSR; the initiatives to promote CSR; CSR practices of New Zealand business; and, CSR education in the major universities. We postulate that in order to better understand CSR in a nation state, it is important to learn of the underlying peculiarities of the institutional environment in that country.