CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: UNDERSTANDING THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS IN BRAZILIAN RETAILING

This study aims to discuss and analyze how the ten largest Brazilian retailers communicate thei social responsibility. We developed a theoretical framework on the evolution concept of corporat social responsibility (CSR), discussing the theory of stakeholders and the concept of strategic CSR. The survey was based on an exploratory qualitative examination. We analyzed the ten larges Brazilian retailers in 2008, following the CSR communication actions proposed in the work of Du Bhattacharya and Sem. Data was collected from websites, companies' sustainability reports na related media. The results showed that the model proposed by the authors could be considere effective enough to allow for the composition of CSR messages. Moreover, the author recognize that the method to evolve the current structure would be to create a feedback mechanism facilitatin in the understanding of the messages by its stakeholders.