NETWORKS AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: A CASE STUDY

The present study aims to contribute to the elucidation of issues related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and cooperation networks among companies. It is therefore intended, through a case study, to understand which are the impacts of networks on CSR strategies. The case study is based on a financial institution's Regional Sustainable Development (RSD) actions, and this institution considers this practice, along with its partners, as the best way to undertake CSR actions. This paper is structured as follows: introduction, theoretical discussion about the two issues (nets and RSC), the methodology of the work, presentation of the methodology of the financing institution's RSD programme (DIGAMA Bank) and description of the practical application of the programme to a group of network partners. Analysis, discussions and final considerations are brought up. Among the main conclusions, it is observed that the objectives of CSR-related organizations can be different as well as the results obtained, even allowing for the coexistence of the network agents which did not achieve their main objectives in full, albeit conducting activities related to social responsibility.