Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Practices of the Largest Seafood Suppliers in the Wild Capture Fisheries Sector: From Vision to Action

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the seafood industry is on the rise. Because of increasing public awareness and non-governmental organization (NGO) campaigns, seafood buyers have made various commitments to improve the sustainability of their wild seafood sourcing. As part of this effort, seafood suppliers have developed their own CSR programs in order to meet buyers’ sourcing requirements. However, the CSR of these companies, many of which are mid-supply chain or vertically integrated, remain largely invisible and unstudied. In order to better understand how mid-chain seafood suppliers engage in sustainability efforts, we reviewed the CSR practices of the 25 largest seafood companies globally (by revenue) that deal with wild seafood products. Based on literature, existing frameworks, and initial data analysis, we developed a structured framework to identify and categorize practices based on the issues addressed and the approach used. We found companies implement CSR to address four key areas, and through various activities that fit into five categories: Power; Practices; Partnerships; Public policy; and Philanthropy. One of the biggest gaps identified in this study is the lack of accountability mechanisms, as well as robust and consistent accounting of impacts. Indeed, many companies express commitments without clear goals and structures in place to ensure implementation. Therefore, improvements in seafood company performance on social and environmental aspects may not only require creating a better business case for CSR, but also require ensuring that companies have the necessary processes and structures in place through public oversights and regulations.

Sustainable strategies andcorporate social responsibilityin the Italian fisheries companies

“…The findings of the research, although in the explorative phase, allowed identification of ‘groups of fish industry buyers’ which show variable and special interests in dealing with the topics at hand. In accordance with the Packer, Swartz, Ota, and Bailey (2019) study fisheries seem to approach CSR by following a certain variety of sustainable practices, committing to improve relations with local community organizations. In particular, from a managerial perspective, for the purpose of greater sensitization to the topic, still more collaboration between public institutions, local communities, businesses, and suppliers is needed, so that the questions on the CSR in the fisheries industry spread and become internalized through appropriate information channels (Pollach, Johansen, Ellerup Nielsen, & Thomsen, 2012).…”

Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability of Local Community: A Case Study of the Transnational Project in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

“…Second, this research builds a CSR-sustainability framework of the CPEC project, which helps to establish a linkage between CSR and sustainability. While a large body of literature has suggested that CSR has a key role to play in making the community and environment sustainable, there is a lack of full understanding of how CSR should be implemented and how it contributes to the sustainable development [45]. This research remedies the gap by revealing the "black box" of the CSR process and reflecting on the potential of CSR to handle the community issues existing in the transnational project between China and Pakistan.…”

Equity – the Bottleneck and the Opportunity

“…Uses may include redistributing some wealth "equitability" within their own value systems, but often includes using disproportionate wealth to have disproportionate influence over the decision-making processes. There are many commercial initiatives to adopt more socially responsible business practices (Cashore, 2002;Zucchella and Urban, 2014;Packer et al, 2019). Nevertheless, these, too, focus on using the wealth created through commerce responsibly, whereas intentionally limiting the amount of corporate wealth created is rarely considered "sound business practice."…”