Evaluation of CSR Practices in BRICS Countries

Abstract. This paper explores the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in emerging economies of BRICS countries. Despite the fact that business in these countries is developing rapidly, the approaches of companies to CSR and its disclosure tendencies are not studied properly. In the study CSR Disclosure and Compliance in the BRICS countries and the factors influencing it are considered. Research methodology assumes a qualitative analysis of 100 largest companies of the BRICS countries, as well as a statistical analysis of financial factors interrelations with the level of disclosure of Corporate Social Responsibility. The main objective of the study is to evaluate the actual level of CSR in largest companies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The study contains literature review of CSR definitions and approaches, CSR in BRICS countries background, qualitative analysis and statistic analysis of companies’ CSR reporting. As a result of the study we got the theoretical overview of the topic, provided the analytics on CSR practices connected to the environment, communities, employees, human rights, ethics and supply chain management. Moreover, we tested correlations of the level of CSR with market value and net assets of BRICS companies.