Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) With Business And Management Education In Developing Countries

Many universities worldwide have been incorporating corporate social responsibility intotheir business and management curricula, research and training programs. This is being done as aprelude to incorporate sustainable values in the businesses for societal good. This trend has beenobserved mostly in the universities of the developed countries. CSR is also seen to have beencomparatively more prevalent in the countries in the developed cluster. This study investigates towhat extent the business and management schools in the developing countries have adopted andincorporated CSR in their curricula for sustainable socioeconomic development and fosteringbetter business-society relations. I also cited general opinions on corporate social responsibilityfrom the heads of academic institutions and queried them regarding their methods to introduceand integrate it into business and management education and training. China and Pakistan aretaken as case in this research.Business and management education and research are the major focus to keep track ofCSR and its allied disciplines taught in various universities in both the countries. In order to dothis, audit of business curricula through webpage content analysis of business and managementschools in the National Key Universities (NKUs) in China was carried out. Besides that, CSRresearch contribution by the faculty affiliated with NKUs in China was investigated. Then,Business and management schools in all the universities of Pakistan were surveyed through aquestionnaire and CSR specific research produced is reviewed to gain an understanding of theCSR scenario in the country. It was found that the state of CSR education in China ispredominantly representative of the other developing countries. Integration of CSR with businessand management education is not very strongly evident across the national key universities in China. Implications for business and management education with particular reference to CSR areoutlined for Chinese universities.Regarding Pakistan, We also cite general opinions on corporate social responsibility fromthe heads of academic institutions and query them regarding their methods to introduce andintegrate it with business and management education. The relevant knowledge and profile ofheads of the schools and training initiatives are also explored as factors influencing incorporationof corporate social responsibility in business education. A survey of business and managementschools in Pakistani universities reveals limited levels of corporate social responsibility withinthe business and management curricula. It was found that the level of corporate socialresponsibility in Pakistan is also representative of CSR education in other developingcountries. In Pakistan there was consensus among the respondents on incorporation of corporatesocial responsibility as a future discipline to manage businesses in a sustainable and ethicalmanner. We concluded that although corporate social responsibility is emerging as an academicdiscipline in Pakistan, it could be better supported if universities engaged in an alliance withcorporations and the government.