Corporate social responsibility of pharmaceutical industry in brazil.

Abstract

Social responsibility has been attracting increasing attention from corporations. The objective of this article is to identify how the concept of social responsibility is understood by firms in the pharmaceutical sector, to compare the communication of social responsibility by Brazilian and foreign companies, and to characterize the articulation of social responsibility with business strategy. The results show that the companies studied have found convergences and divergences in CSR practices. Brazilian pharmaceutical companies seem more concerned to identify their partners in CSR projects, compared to foreign companies. Another divergence concerns the declaration of the purpose of the organization, where foreign companies make more explicit their commitment to social and environmental responsibility. A critical aspect in the communication of social responsibility is the identification of partners and the results of projects and programmes on CSR and sustainability. With regard to administrative practices, convergence predominates in relation to the communication of social responsibility