COMPLETIONREPORT

Erwin Alday Alampay
University of the Philippines
National College of Public Administration and Governance

Comparative Study on Disaster Related Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR)
Project Implementation in Local Government in Japan and in The Philippines
This research investigated how the differences in views about Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) translates into differences in how companies’ CSR initiatives
during disasters, in this case the recent pandemic, was performed in bothcountries. It is based on a desk review of the literature, and scanning of CSR
related news during the course of the pandemic.
This was further complemented
by secondary analysis of previous CSR Surveys of companies in Japan and an online
survey of twenty companies in the Philippines.
CSR is understood and applied differently in various countries. This can be saidof how it has evolved and has been implemented by companies in Japan and thePhilippines. Historically, there have been clearer identifiable phases in CSR
development in Japan. Research and documentation of CSR has also been moredeveloped in Japan. Regular CSR surveys that they do (e.g. Tokyo Foundation annualCSR survey), is something that is yet to be seen in the Philippines, though there
have been a few independent studies that have attempted to do this.
It is ideal is for CSR to be embedded in ways that make use of products or services
generated by the company’s business operations or that operate through thecompany’s business processes. In other words, CSR that is integrated with thecompany’s business operations. In Japan, there has already been an increasingly
greater trend towards integrating aspects of CSR, such as environmental
sustainability with financial materiality and corporate strategy, whereas in thePhilippines CSR tend to be more social developmentally focused, with CSR associatedmore to corporate philanthropy. The nature of Japan having larger and more global
multi-national operations, may in part have something to do with more establishedreporting of CSR. Likewise, the bigger and multi-national corporations in thePhilippines also appear to have more institutionalized CSR programs.
During the pandemic, a large part of the CSR activities in the Philippines include
food/feeding people; providing PPEs, transportation etc. is also testament to how
well the governments in each country is doing, and the kinds of restrictions theirgovernments impose. This supports is consistent with the literature on thecomplementarity of voluntary services to fill-in gaps in public goods thatgovernment fails to provide. This though is commonly associated with non-profit
sector research and public goods theories that explain the sector’s development.
-1-This can be explained by the fact that in the Philippines, CSR is seen as a channelfor promoting voluntarism.
While Japanese can learn from Philippine CSR practice is its strong link withlocal community concerns, Philippine companies on the other hand have not yet
reached the level of CSR sophistication that is more strategic and integrated tothe nature of its business that can be seen in Japan.

Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation(Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)

Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)

Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)-2-