Citizenship, Accountability and the community: the limits of the CSR agenda

Abstract

The focus of this article on the relationship between companies and local communities derives from a concern that many accounts of corporate responsibility and citizenship overlook this relationship—in particular, relations with poorer communities—as part of a general neglect of the developmental implications of the CSR agenda. The case-studies referred to in the article draw on continuing work in India on large firms (one publicly owned and the others mostly private) that have entered into engagements with resource-poor, often landless communities reliant upon traditional means of livelihood