Corporate social responsibility strategies in the light of the financial crisis: the case of Milan-based global companies

The current financial crisis has led companies to revise their strategies and cut costs across all functions. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a costly engagement and there has been strong speculation that companies will forget their CSR engagements in the light of the crisis. We aim to investigate whether CSR will continue to be seen as a feasible and sustainable choice, or whether it will be sacrificed in light of the crisis. We conduct a survey on Milan-based companies operating on a global scale. We find that while there is evidence of some cut-backs on CSR, CSR strategies of organisations in Milan have not been dramatically scarified due to the crisis.