Turning Marketing Students into Active Citizens: The Learning of Consumption and Social-Related Marketing in Thailand

Consumption And Marketing In Support Of Social Development

Social development refers to the need to put people first in attaining sustainable growth and a better quality of life. With its central role to address complex relationships between societies, states and communities, social development requires collective efforts of all stakeholders where all can contribute according to their interests and capabilities. In the past, the business sector was generally viewed as the source of donations since business operations tended to be disconnected from social development activities. Therefore, their allocated resources were mainly contributions, in cash or in kind. In the early days, the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) began with the goal of upholding ethical practices in managing business and later extended to the acquisition of resources and production of products and services with considerations of public benefit. Table 1 explains the development of CSR. Over time the practice has become integral to the corporate strategy. Therefore, it is evident that more businesses are now organizing their own initiatives to support social development while there has been increased use of business knowledge in a variety of social development projects.