Abstract
Multinational corporations (MNCs) compete with one other to capture new and better business opportunities, particularly in the emerging markets within Asia. While corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities have been employed as strategic tools for MNCs to enter, survive, and perform in new markets, not all CSR efforts have achieved the desired effects. To better understand the key features of successful CSR activities by MNCs in and of Asia, we examined the case of a Korean MNC in Thailand: Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Thailand Co., LTD (SEMTHAI). We argue that SEMTHAI’s moral capital, created by its authentic and effective CSR activities, is responsible for its exceptional reputation and success in Thailand. We also attempt to draw both theoretical and managerial implications about successful CSR activities for MNCs in and of Asia.
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Notes
- 1.
“The Prime Minister Industry Award,” established in 2003, is presented every year to one enterprise that has previously received at least three Prime Minister Awards. The government evaluates eligible enterprises in six criteria (i.e., the corporation’s sales, quality, environment, safety, productivity, and contribution to Thailand) and picks the very best enterprise. This award is thus considered the most honorable award an enterprise can receive in Thailand.
- 2.
The Prime Minister Award is an annual award presented to four different enterprises operating in Thailand, with respect to their excellence in one of the four categories: sales, productivity, quality, and safety and environment. The Thai government evaluates all the local and foreign enterprises in the four categories and picks the best firm in each category to present the annual award to. The Prime Minister Award therefore is recognized as one of the most prestigious awards an enterprise may receive in Thailand and the award-winning enterprises get to represent Thailand by publicly displaying the award logo on its products for the proceeding year.
- 3.
These data provided by Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEM) and SEMTHAI include a public relations DVD produced in Korean and a PowerPoint presentation file including SEMTHAI’s general information: history, sales ratio, annual number of employees, operating and non-operating activities (i.e., training and CSR), and more.
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Jeon, N.N., Nam, S.H. (2022). Successful MNC CSR Activities in Asia: A Case Study of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Thailand Co., LTD.. In: Wu, T., Bu, N. (eds) International Business in the New Asia-Pacific. Advances in Theory and Practice of Emerging Markets. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87621-0_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87621-0_11
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