The Responsibility Paradox: Is CSR Truly Beneficial During the Global Pandemic?

Introduction

As countries have started to emerge from the pandemic with the development of vaccines, the impact of Covid-19 and the changes it has initiated in the business world has continued to be felt across industries. Organizations, as well as top managers, have been forced to adapt to the bitter battle by planning ahead for uncertainties, coping with sudden changes in the value chain, restoring and leveraging resources in consideration of stakeholders from all fronts to ultimately learning how to survive and thrive from such unique circumstances. While some companies have inevitably folded due to financial pressures and inabilities to cope, one bright side of the pandemic is that other companies have stood out by demonstrating tremendous resiliency in facing challenges and transforming threats into opportunities. In doing so, businesses have been forced to identify new and creative ways to adapt their business strategies to the constraints of the pandemic. In this chapter, real life stories from three different industries – chain restaurants, interior design, and cafés – and the lessons they have learned are discussed and analyzed. We started by reviewing how corporations can take prosocial initiatives to adhere their business operations to the interests of their stakeholders and how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) face different survival dynamics from their larger-sized counterparts. Specifically, the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in SMEs is highlighted as a strategy in which organizations can promote the long-term sustainability of their business. Then, three companies in various industries are introduced with details about how Covid-19 has changed their outlook and goals in competing with other firms and the ways in which they confronted the pandemic. Finally, we shared implications and offered helpful recommendations as to how organizations – particularly SMEs – can better deal with a global health crisis and play a larger role in taking care of their stakeholders in the long run.