Abstract
This paper examines the extent of use of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices among 27 companies from 9 of the biggest industries in Greece based on their annual revenues. The types of practices used are examined and grouped into five categories, related to: Environment, Community, Marketplace, Values and Vision and the Workplace, depicting the emphases and priorities of these enterprises. Data have been collected from published information available on the Internet. The information gathered was content-analyzed while the categorization based on CSR activities followed, so as to enable us to detect patterns and variations between industries. The findings provide a picture of the types of CSR practice choices that large companies operating in Greece are making, with regard to the content, variety and number of occurrences. The findings in this study offer an understanding of the approach of large Greek companies to CSR and demonstrate the particular importance they assign to specific domains of CSR in the period of economic crisis. Considering the increasing importance of CSR practices in the way businesses conduct themselves and the rising trend of adopting such practices and communicating them to the stakeholders involved, the knowledge produced about corporate CSR practices can help in the creation and enrichment of best practices which can then be communicated and advertised to the wider population of the country’s businesses.
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