CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN VIET NAM a STUDY OF STAKEHOLDERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN VIET NAM: A STUDY OF STAKEHOLDERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.. Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa Corporate Social Responsibility has developed

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN VIET NAM: A STUDY OF STAKEHOLDERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY

BY

PHAM VAN THUAN

Graduation Project Submitted to the Department of Business Studies, HELP University College, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Business (Accounting) Hons

Word Count: … Words

Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa

Corporate Social Responsibility has developed through the long history and it is also expected to be implemented by any business entities in the world It is no longer a new term for developing countries such as Viet Nam However, in recent year, when the economic is opened, there are a lot of scandals and critical cases concerning about the Corporate Social Responsibility and ethical business as the result of the economic boom

So, there appear a lot of researches on that field; however the understanding of

Corporate Social Responsibility is limited in Viet Nam Therefore, it may be a result of motivation for the researcher to conduct the survey about the perceptions of CSR among Vietnamese individual investors in TL Securities Company’s office (TLS)

In this study, the researcher aims at assessing the understanding of Vietnamese

individual investors on the topics of CSR Further more, the researcher tries to define three factors which contribute to the CSR perceptions namely CSR awareness,

investment decision and CSR reporting base on the understanding and opinion of the

By conducting the research, the research is able to indicate that the understanding of CSR concepts and its perceptions is limited; because the investors have little basic knowledge about the CSR So, investors in Viet Nam are very hard to use CSR information as a tool to value firm and it is also difficult for them to make investment decision

Table of contents

Declaration of Originality and Word Count ii

DECLARATION ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents v

List of Figures and Tables viii

List of Abbreviations ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION x

1.1 Research Background 1

1.1.1 CSR in the world 1

1.1.2 CSR in Vietnam 1

1.2 Problem Statement 3

1.3 Objectives and Sphere of Research 4

1.3.1 Objectives of Research 4

1.3.2 Sphere of Research 5

1.4 Research Methods 5

1.5 Structure of Research 6

CHAPTER 2: LITRERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1.3 Investment Decision 7

2.2.1 Business Ethics in Viet Nam – Reality and Solutions 7

2.2.2 CSR in business entities in Viet Nam – Reality and Solutions 7

2.2.3 CSR – The Investors’ Perspective 7

2.2.4 CSR, PR of Foreign-Invested Companies 7

2.3 Researches Summary 7

2.1 Research’s related concepts 8

2.1.1 Carroll's 1979-1991 conceptualization 9

2.1.2 Stakeholder theory 11

2.1.3 Investment Decision 12

2.1.4 Responsible Investment 13

2.1.5 Investor Relation 13

2.1.6 CSR Reporting 14

2.1.7 CSR practice and challenges 16

2.2 Researches and Studies 18

2.2.1 Business Ethics in Viet Nam – Reality and Solutions 18

2.2.2 CSR in business entities in Viet Nam – Reality and Solutions 19

2.2.3 CSR – The Investors’ Perspective 20

2.2.4 CSR, PR of Foreign-Invested Companies 21

2.3 Researches Summary 22

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 25

3.1 Research Objectives 26

3.2 Theoretical Framework and Measurement 26

3.2.1 CSR perceptions 27

3.2.2 CSR Awareness 27

3.2.3 Investment Decision 28

3.2.4 CSR Reporting 28

3.3 Measurement and Quality Design 28

3.3.2.2 Investment Decision 31

3.3.2.3 CSR Reporting 31

3.4 Research Method 32

3.4.1 Sampling 33

3.5 Hypothesis Statement 33

3.5.1 Correlation of Independent Variable 34

CHAPTER 4: RESULT ANALYSIS 35

4.1 Collection of Questionnaires 36

4.2 Description of Result 36

4.2.1 Age 36

4.2.2 Gender 37

4.2.3 CSR Awareness 38

4.2.4 Investment Decision 42

4.2.5 CSR Reporting 46

4.3 Result Analysis 48

4.3.1 Hypothesis 1 49

4.3.2 Hypothesis 2 51

4.3.3 Hypothesis 3 52

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATION 53

5.1 Conclusion 54

5.2 Recommendation 55

5.3 Limitation of Study 56

5.4 Suggestion for Future Research 57

Reference (Harvard referencing system) 58

APPENDICES 61

List of Figures and Tables

Table 1: Researches and Studies Summary 24

Table 2: Age 36

Table 3: Gender 37

Table 4: Question 1 - Result and Analysis 38

Table 5: Question 2 - Result and Analysis 39

Table 6: Question 3 - Result and Analysis 40

Table 7: Question 4 - Result and Analysis 41

Table 8: Question 5 - Result and Analysis 42

Table 9: Question 6 - Result and Analysis 43

Table 10: Question 7 - Result and Analysis 44

Table 11: Question 8 - Result and Analysis 45

Table 12: Question 9 - Result and Analysis 46

Table 13: Question 10 - Result and Analysis 47

Table 14: Question 10 - Result and Analysis 48

Table 15: Hypothesis 1 49

Table 16: Hypothesis 2 51

Table 17: Hypothesis 3 52

VCCI Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry NIRI National Investor Relations Institute

1.1 Research Background

1.1.1 CSR in the world

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a hot subject for many researchers in the world

In many researches, researchers recognize that many companies have been paying a lot of money to have a good business systems and became has responsible to the society as the whole In order to do that, so many programs have been done in order to make good things for the society such as saving energy, reducing carbon emission, school building, improve drinking waster supply, etc Specially, a big retailer of consumer electronics in Canada and USA of Best Buy Co., Inc has a good recycle program The Deputy Manager

of public relations of this company has been said that “We only feel that we will succeed

in the market if we take responsibilities for society” (Saga Vietnam, 2008) Other

example is Starbucks known as a world-wide coffee company, which has many good activities to make excellent community The other good actions have done by the World Bank and Merck Pharmacy Company They also paid more than 50 millions into give free Mectizan medicine to help poor people in 28 countries in Africa (Saga Vietnam, 2008) Furthermore, there are a lot of companies in the world have been produced in the way of protecting the environment or making useful products for customers and

developing of community and society

businessmen According to Professor André Schmitt, Director of CFVG, “Current

financial crisis show that the Vietnamese Economy was depended on supply chains of the world Vietnam Economy can not evade the global competitive pressures Thus, the task

of implementing CSR is as difficult as it is in any developed countries” (CSR Vietnam

Forum, 2009)

Furthermore, with the big and important event that Vietnam joint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007, CSR became more important to the companies in Viet Nam because of strict requirements from their partners and foreign clients in the world

(WTO website, 2006) Therefore, since the year 2005, the Viet Nam Chamber of

Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has been made a program about “CSR – towards the sustainable development” in order to support companies in Viet Nam to implement CSR actively in the international economic integration circumstances According to Dr Doan Duy Khuong, the vice-chairman of VCCI, “CSR is a requirement for the companies and they could not reach the international market without CSR implementation” (Securities Investment Newspaper, 2008) However, in the fact it is observed that these companies in Viet Nam face many difficulties in applying the CSR programs because of limited their understanding and perception about CSR or because of the lack of financial and technical resources It is also difficult for small-size companies to apply the CSR In order to illustrate in this issue, the researcher provide some examples There is one firm that has been made pollution in a river in Viet Nam and it has been caught by the Vietnamese government In order to explain about its issue, the company said that its actions were to

directors have been think of that way; however, if the firms want to develop in the term basis, they should follow the CSR requirement in the way that they should have been responsible to the society From that, we can see which companies have been cares much about CSR activities under the financial crisis period

fastest-However, there are some companies having wrong-doing things which have been found out in recent time The worst case is the Taiwan-owned company named as Vedan

International It’s conducted bad action that discharged directly waste water in to the Thi Vai River in Dong Nai province Before this action was discovered, the company also used two pumping systems in its factory One system was directly through refining process; however it is never used if using when have coming of the supervision from the local government office And, one the other system was discharging waste water in to the river (Invest in Vietnam, 2008) This action of the company has serious effects on the

environment and people in this place Another case related with CSR issue is owned Company in Quang Minh industrial zone It has been found that the company also was discharging waste water into river After being discovered, the firm’s deputy director general Mr Liu Chien Lin has been explained for that the company’s action was to help the company over the financial crisis In the statistics, the firm has been saved around US$4,209-5,261 a month by doing this action (Thanh Nien News, 2010)

Taiwanese-As the result of these issues above, the people recognize that as the serious problems from those companies above and they are also rejecting to use or by the product from those companies That can lead to bad affects not only of the firms, shareholders and stakeholder but also reducing the profits of investors Therefore, with the understanding

of CSR concepts, theories, and perceptions of investors are important to them before they want to invest in the companies In this study, the researcher also wants to access the understanding of individual investors in CSR perceptions and so on

1.3 Objectives and Sphere of Research

1.3.1 Objectives of Research

In order to do the thesis, the researcher focuses on:

- Definitions and summarize the CSR concepts and other theory relative

- Investigate the understanding of Vietnamese individual investors about CSR concept, its perceptions and implementation

- Establish theoretical models and investigate the relationship between CSR perceptions for Vietnamese individual investors and other contributions such as CSR awareness,

- Enhance the understanding of individual investors on CSR issues, concepts and its perceptions

- Recommend some solutions for the organizations to raise the awareness and

understanding of investors CSR concepts and its perceptions, solutions for the firms to have better investor relation

1.3.2 Sphere of Research

- Research conducting place: THANG LONG Securities Company office, Ha Noi, Viet Nam

- Object of the research: Vietnamese individual investors

- Time duration of conducting the research: from August 16, 2010 to September 20,

2010

1.4 Research Methods

In order to do this research, the researcher is used investigation and survey for the thesis The researcher distributes the questionnaire and conducts the study from the investors in THANG LONG Securities company (TLS) office, Ha Noi, Viet Nam TLS is known as the largest securities office in Ha Noi, Viet Nam There are a lot of investors in here on the weekday They come here to look at the electronic board and discuss with each other

in order to make investment decision on the firms Therefore, the researcher comes to meet each individual investor to ask them to fill and answer in the survey The

questionnaire was making from previous searches and studies Beside that, with the sample of n equals 65 (n=65), the researchers also can analyze the collected data to see how investors understand about the CSR concepts and in order about the stakeholders’ perception among them

Further more, researcher was use the Microsoft Excel to analyzing and check the

measurement after the data has been collected Beside that, the previous data was help the researcher more understanding and be able to use statistical and descriptive methods of analysis

1.5 Structure of Research

This project is divided into five following chapters:

Chapter I: Introduction

Chapter II: Literature Review

Chapter III: Research Methodology

Chapter IV: Result Analysis

Chapter V: Conclusion and Recommendation

CHAPTER 2: LITRERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Research’s related concepts

2.1.7 CSR practice and challenges

2.2 Researches and Studies

2.2.1 Business Ethics in Viet Nam – Reality and Solutions

2.2.2 CSR in business entities in Viet Nam – Reality and Solutions 2.2.3 CSR – The Investors’ Perspective

2.2.4 CSR, PR of Foreign-Invested Companies

2.3 Researches Summary

2.1 Research’s related concepts

In recent years, in order to found the definitions of CSR always is hot issue with a lot of people in the world In order to do that, there are many debates among academics,

consultants and corporate executive were happen And, there are so many definition of CSR were made by different researchers, professionals and organizations However, there

is one definition that became one of the most frequently cited definitions It was made by World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) According to WBCSD (WBCSD, 1998)“Corporate social responsibility is the continuing commitment by

business to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the community and society at large"

From 1999 up to now, there are so many researchers and organizations have been

introduced clearly definition about Social responsibility of business However, the

Corporate Social Responsibility definition was bring many confuse for both society and corporations In order, there are many people known about the CSR concept and they can answer what CSR is however these definitions can be understood with the several

meanings (Blanco & Souto, 2009) Besides that, Votaw and Sethi (1973) was seen the definition of CSR as “it means something but not always the same thing to everybody” Further more, in order to do the right CSR activities, there are a lot of companies were have responsibilities for its employees, customers and society as the whole They also were used CSR as the advantage competitive with their competitors to doing their

business or called investors Its also help the company has sustainable development

In literature, various conceptualizations of CSR have been developed; however,

researcher would like to introduction one most famous conceptualizations such as Carroll (1979) four-part definition of CSR

2.1.1 Carroll's 1979-1991 conceptualization

In 1979, there are four areas was distinguished by Carroll such as: economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary In the first category which Carroll has been mentioned is economic responsibility Carroll’s was indicated that the role of the organization is provided goods and services and made profit Its also was a responsibility economic of each companies For example, the organizations have the responsibility to pay fair salary

to their employees, providing new goods and services for customers, made maximum profit from their product, ect In other words, Carroll’s was indicated that the first

objective of organization is made profit before it was anything else

In the second category, he was mentioned about the legal responsibility In which the organization had done business under the regulation and laws Any activities and

economic mission followed the legal framework set by societal legal systems The

concept of fair operation established by lawmakers is the basis for the view of “codified ethics” reflected in legal responsibility (Carroll, 1979) However, the applications were

fairly is very difficult while the films may be successfully forced by regulations to

respond to the issue (Pratima, 2002) Besides, the opportunity for the firm to be proactive

is limited by the reactive nature of the laws Therefore, the laws attempt to circumscribe the limits of tolerable business behavior, but they neither define ethics nor do they

“legislate morality” (Solomon, 1994)

In next part, because of the companies have depended on the ethical responsibility to overcome the limitation of law; so the ethical responsibility which is mainly rooted in human principals and human rights commitment It is not necessary codified into law, but rather it is expected by the societal members (Novak, 1996) However, the blurred

definition of ethical responsibility makes it very difficult for the organization to deal with

it properly (Carroll, 1979)

The final category, discretionary responsibility, includes activities that response to the society’s expectation of businesses be good corporate citizens The key point to

differentiate between discretionary and ethical responsibility is that the public’s

expectation is not based on ethical or moral sense under discretionary area The

community desires firms to contribute to or build in humanitarian programs; however the firm is not regarded as unethical if it does not satisfy such desires Discretionary

responsibility is more voluntary for the business even there is always expectation that the business provide it

Carroll has put four categories of CSR into pyramid:

Figure 2.1 A hierarchy of CSR (adapted from Carroll, 1991)

Under this perspective, economic and legal responsibilities are socially required, ethical responsibility is socially expected, and discretionary responsibility is socially desired (Windsor, 2001)

Carroll’s conceptualization is useful and timely, however it still has limitation According

to Clarkson (1995) states that:” Carroll’s model in the form of a three dimensional cube was complex and difficult to test It did not lend itself to the development of a

methodology that could be used in the field to collect, organize, and evaluate corporate data”

2.1.2 Stakeholder theory

According to the Freeman (1984), he was indicated that the main concern of stakeholders

is the profit making And, there is an alternative concept that focuses on the mutual relationship between the business and society, and with a range of stakeholders In the some CSR debates, stakeholders were mentioned as the common frame of references

From 1983, Freeman and Reed were definition stakeholders as “any identifiable group or

individual who can affect the achievement of an organization’s objectives, or is affected

by the achievement of an organization’s objectives” According to this, there are so many

factors of stakeholders such as shareholders, employees, consumers, local communities, suppliers and so on

In the litter of review, the researcher was recognized that ethical and managerial are two part of stakeholder theory Under the ethical part, the organizations had responsibility to the treated fairly with all stakeholders (Deegan, 2009) In order to determine the impact

of organization on the life of stakeholder is the responsibility of the organization with them It’s also was rather than the power of the stakeholders has over the organization

On the other hand, the managerial part of Stakeholder theory was indicated that

responding of all stakeholders is equally And the organization will only respond to stakeholders that are deemed to be “powerful” (Buhr, 2002) According to the Friedman and Miles (2002) indicated that the greater the importance of the stakeholders contribute

to the organization, the greater the probability that organization will operation for

particular expectation of stakeholders Because of this, the organization had many

activities were related to particular stakeholders’ expectations However, from many tests of Stakeholder Theory show that instead of being at one or other of the absolute extremes of the ethical or managerial branch, many managers are driven by both ethical considerations and market considerations (Deegan, 2009)

2.1.3 Investment Decision

According to Richard Butler (1993), the investment decision making is the process

just the same thing by which the investor make decision to allocate their scarce resources

to gain in the future In order to make investment, the invested in the firm is most

popular In the past time, investment traditionally involves taking financial aspects and measures to evaluate the firm only However, the financial status is not enough for

investors to make decision in the modern world In order to make decision, CSR becomes

a new concept with which the investors consider CSR as a “central” or “important” consideration in investment decision (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2005)

2.1.4 Responsible Investment

In 2005, Louche C has been defined responsible investment is “investment strategy which seeks to generate both financial and sustainable value” According to this, we can see that it’s was not the single concept but the bunch of investment manners that include social, governance and environmental and ethical issues These elements also are used to put into the financial analysis process and decision making In the traditionally, RI is used for equities market only; however, in the modern time, the concept which is also known ethical investing or sustainable investing can be used in many investment asset categories throughout the time of development In order, RI is not only the target but also the

process It is the target in the sense that investors want to achieve that Farther more, it is also the manner with which RI is used to identify the performance, sustainability and responsibility of the investment

2.1.5 Investor Relation

According to NIRI (2001), Investor relation (IR) is defined as “a strategic management responsibility using the disciplines of finance, communication and marketing to manage the content and flow of company information to financial and other constituencies to

maximize relative valuation” During the research, the researcher see that NIRI as the first recognized profession investor relations body defines its main reason for existence is

to maintain the firm’s fair relative marker value From that, that the role of investor relations has been focus on the firm valuation On the other hand, there are so many perspectives with which the researchers believe that IR includes three phases: simple communication, focus on financial results and active marketing (Marcus and Wallace, 1997) Further more, in the research, the researcher also want focus not only on financial aspects only but also the CSR activities and practices which will be delivered to the investors

2.1.6 CSR Reporting

In the literature review, the researcher recognized that there is an increase of CSR

instruments and tools for building the information structure to communicate CSR

According to the Schultz et al (2005), he was distinguishing between direct and indirect communication of CSR In order, while external and formal channels such as reports, brochures and websites are often seen as direct ways to communicate CSR; less formal channels such as articles in local newspapers, or the word of mouth from employees, customers and local community persons are often used as indirect communication

Further more, according to Dierkes and Antal (1985) suggest that a basis for dialogue with stakeholders can be provided by publicly disclosing information about how

company carries out its social responsibilities

In 1999, Preston et al are showed the importance of this open communication between

they assume because of their involvement with the corporation” According to this, the

researcher seen that for communicating with stakeholders, financial statements and other information included in the company’s annual reports is the primary instrument under an

accounting perspective From a stakeholder perspective “social disclosure is seen as part

of the dialogue between the company and its stakeholders” (Gray et al, 1995)

Further more, with the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) reporting, which is defined by

Elkington (1997) as reporting that provides information about the economic,

environmental, and social performance of an entity, is widely used approach by

organizations in order to inform report readers how sustainable organizations are

So, CSR report is one way in which organizations use to communicate information about social and environmental issues to different stakeholders CSR reports can be mandatory, solicited or voluntary (Van der Laan, 2004; Woodward et al, 1996) In order to supporters for mandatory reporting argue that voluntary self- regulation of CSR is ineffective in preventing damaging social and environmental consequences resulted from corporate activities and decision So, protecting citizens and ensuring adequate CSR information is issued require the action from government to mandate CSR reporting (Doane, 2002) Beside that, even still in relatively underdeveloped form, solicited reporting is slowly gaining acceptance among scholars The demand for CSR information from particular group of stakeholders is the core in solicited reporting This type of reporting enables stakeholders to obtain better information through the symmetric and dialogical forms of communication (Van der Laan, 2004; Woodward et al, 1996) On the other hand, the most widely recognized form of CSR reporting is voluntary Since 2002, this form has risen significantly (Kolk et al, 2005) However, as this form is characterized in the

voluntary nature, companies might use it as a means to paint their image in a favorable light (Stittle, 2002) In order to meet the stakeholders’ demand on CSR information, companies must communicate their CSR in effective reporting format There are many different models or frameworks for CSR reporting, such as SA 8000, AA 1000, ISO

14000, GRI, etc

In the current situation, both social accounting and CSR are lack of legislative support and generally accepted standard, it makes CSR reporting loses worth The stakeholders have to doubt about the reliability, fairness and the content interpretation of the report There is a need to complete the cycle with independent and professional assurance in order to give CSR reporting the importance and position it deserves There are several attempts to establish a common framework of CSR reporting (Owen, 2003) M.A.Levine

(2008) affirms that “some stakeholders, including non-governmental organization

(NGOs) that focus upon human rights issues, have called for a legal framework to make CSR programs mandatory They are concerned that existing CSR obligations are

insufficient and voluntary CSR programs are inadequate” The GRI is a possible global

framework for an accepted CSR reporting standard The years ahead will be very

important for achieving commitment to this matter And, as one of the high potential market in the world, Vietnam cannot eliminate itself from the global trend Achieving one worldwide accepted framework for CSR reporting will clearly affect Vietnam

economy and the way in which Vietnam companies operate

2.1.7 CSR practice and challenges

Ministry of Labor-Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade, together with Vietnam Leather & Footwear Association, and The Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group, in order to honor enterprises that well done of CSR in context of global integration In 2006, there are more than 50 companies of Vietnam Leather & Footwear Association, and The Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group took part in this prize According to PhD Doan Duy Khuong - Vice-Director of Vietnam

Chamber of Commerce and Industry, “CSR has become necessary requirement for each company, if the company does not embrace CSR, they can not approach the global market” (Saga Vietnam, 2008)

However, there are still lots of challenges in implementing CSR in Vietnam In order, the researcher would like to show three reasons for this issue Firstly, there is lack of law enforcement as well as the cooperation The evaluations of CSR effectuation are set in Code of Conduct and standards such as SA8000, WRAP, ISO 14000, GRI, etc However, the standards are not agreement among Governments or regulations in international convention As this result, ties are only among export or import companies or companies' rules Secondly, the companies' knowledge about CSR is still limited They understand that CSR is only charity and they do not understand that this is a need to implement CSR right from the inside of the organization Thirdly, the companies are lack of money and technique to apply criterions of CSR, especially with the in medium and small companies (Saga Vietnam, 2008) Further more, the awareness and demand for CSR information of Vietnamese are also limited, giving less incentive for companies to embrace CSR and disclose CSR information

However, there are some companies that have started to produce clean vegetables, clean aquaculture, clean coal etc It also become a good action to develop the company in the long time and helps them connect to the world

2.2 Researches and Studies

As the researcher mention above there are very few CSR researches conducted in Asia country, especially in Vietnam; therefore, the research also faces with difficulties in finding enough studies and researches to use for reference and foundation As the result, the researcher has to use some studies which consist of more than one topic In order, the researcher sees that those topics usually are quite related such as business ethics,

corporate culture However, CSR is mostly discussed and studied in those researches; therefore, it is still appropriate to use them

2.2.1 Business Ethics in Viet Nam – Reality and Solutions

In the first one of this section, the researcher also wants to interpret meaning the word

“ethic” As you know that ethics is concerned with moral obligation, responsibility and social justice and the word ethics is rooted from the Geek words “ethikos” and “ethos”, meaning custom or usage However, business ethics is only four decades old despite the fact that it is self-conscious academic discipline According to Nguyen (2008), business ethics has become a one of most topic of discussion by American business officers, employees, shareholders, consumers and college professors Therefore, the study of business ethics has expanded widely to almost all countries in the world

In the Nguyen’s research, the researcher sees that one major part of this research is about

protection Further more, following to this matter, the researcher will be conducts a survey with which questions on CSR topic is used to ask From those questions was ask, the researcher want to access the understanding of students, investors and managers on the term of CSR For example, the researcher was raise one question about 3- MPCD rate that complies with Vietnamese regulations but exceeds EU permissible levels is

appropriate or not From this question, the researcher wants to know the perception of stakeholders who mostly think of a vague delimitation between regulations and CSR Moreover, during the study the researcher seen that Nguyen (2008) has made several proposals for developing and completing CSR in Viet Nam In order of this, the

researcher also wants to show two of most representative Firstly, he also was indicated that the regulations and laws should be strengthened to eliminate the wrong-doing things

of the business entities Secondly, the issue about the awareness of CSR in Viet Nam should be introduction and performance through not only the media, business

organization and researchers but also support from governmental offices and

departments; And, its should be encouraged in raising their business ethics for both their and other stakeholders’ benefits

2.2.2 CSR in business entities in Viet Nam – Reality and Solutions

According to Tran (2009), he was concludes that there are two ways to define CSR In the first one, there is only one responsibility It also used to solve the issue of scarce resources and operation of the organization and in order to increase the operation

performance And the main idea is to approach the goals and objectives that the managers desire in the borders of law and regulations Further more, he also was said that the social welfare is directly guaranteed through business operation in term of usage and

distribution of benefits from business activities In next one, he was define the CSR is that the CSR is practiced and implemented not only through the economic operation but also on non-economic activities So, this perception also was considers CSR as a social responsibility outside both the laws and regulation’s requirements In order to

development, Tran was concluded that the two perceptions above can be understood that the firm should be able to not only balance the economic benefits and social interest but also on the other CSR activities such as healthcare, environmental protection, and so on Moreover, Tran (2009) also discusses about the responsible investment as a strategy with both economic and long-term values are performance In the study, it is concluded that the responsible investment is relative new term to Vietnamese investors although the usage of this concept has lasted for decades in other developed countries (Tran, 2009) And, there are several actors who following to responsible investment such as investors, rators, and connectors Investors are persons who invest their capital into funds, stocks, and other equity and non-equity market Connectors are initiatives and platforms related

to the term of responsible investment And, rators are ranking group which rate business entities and responsibility investment

2.2.3 CSR – The Investors’ Perspective

In this part, the researcher sees that there is no significant difference between investors and other stakeholders in whole In order to making investment decision, CSR is

understood as “central” or “important” (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2005) According to Céline Louche (2009) quoted that the fund of managers are able not only to use CSR for

2005; PLEON, 2005; Jaroski, 2007) Because of this, there are two questions accessing the above issue will be use in this research However, researcher should not expect that individual investors are the same as fund managers; because of the difference in

background and understanding of different type of investors In the study, we can see that the managers of fund usually have long-term investment strategy rather the short-term objectives of individual investors So, the researcher also used new concepts and theories are mostly done by the institution investors

Further more, according to Céline Louche (2009), the investors also can recognize in both financial and long-term values generation is the result of managing social and

environmental risks So, the social and environmental risks were used as the

questionnaires in this research Through it, the investors understand that the company will develop more in the future if it implements CSR activities From these activities the investors can evaluate the long-term development of the company And, when the firm has efficient and effective about the CSR program, that means the firm care about the investors and others stakeholders in the society So, the CSR repost from the company is very important and need for stakeholders as investors

2.2.4 CSR, PR of Foreign-Invested Companies

As the researcher was mention above, CSR is very important for the company Because,

it was responds to the expectation from society, is regarded as a type of investment Further more, it also was motivators for increase the business activities, raise the loyalty

of customers, and build up the brand-name of the company Moreover, the CSR also was important with the foreign-invested company as: crisis management, employment

relationship improvement, brand-name development, social sustainable development and

government and local relationship improvement So, the CSR reporting is important and need for providing information for the investors and society CSR reporting also help the investors or other stakeholders were more understanding about the company either care about the CSR or not However, CSR reports are relatively new; there is an existing need for CSR reports (Ho, 2008)

2.3 Researches Summary

In this section, the researcher also was summarizing all the information above researches From that, the researcher wants to comparison among those researches and shows the difference in presenting the theoretical framework of CSR in different geographic areas

Author Area Covered Country Summary

- Solutions to raise

CSR understanding and implementation

in Viet Nam

Viet Nam There is understanding of

business ethics and CSR concepts among investors;

it is usually limited to the incomplete knowledge on the topic CSR sometimes

is thought as regulation compliance only

- Responsible

investment

Viet Nam The join of Viet Nam to

WTO is major factor by which CSR is widely understood and required The current CSR scandals raise the understanding and awareness of investors and society as the whole

Lastly, responsible investment is not familiar among individual investors

Belgium Basic understanding and

related theories on the topic

of responsible investment and investor relation The investors tend to use CSR

as tool to access company’s potential viability rather than to value firm

- The needs of CSR

reports

Viet Nam Foreign-invested firms in

Viet Nam tend to be more social responsibility than the local ones Even though there is lack of CSR

reports, there is an existing need from investors and the society as the whole

Table 1: Researches and Studies Summary

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Objectives

In the Literature Review section, the researcher has collected and summarized the

information and theories have been related to the topic of CSR concepts and it

perceptions for many types of stakeholders In the chapter II, the researcher has been introduction about the perception, understanding of CSR concepts and its perceptions through many countries, especially in Vietnam Because of this, the study done in

Vietnam will be major sources of reference for the researcher carry out this research The research will show how individual investors in Vietnam perceive about the CSR concepts and it’s important Moreover, there are three components which contribute to the

perceptions of CSR for investors such as CSR awareness, investment decision and CSR reporting will be examined to establish a relationship

3.2 Theoretical Framework and Measurement

In this section, the researcher would like to say that the researches and studies will be takes into account not only in Viet Nam but also in some other places in the world which have better supporting sources Using the mentioned information and knowledge, three components are using developed the theoretical framework They include: CSR

awareness, investment decision, and CSR reporting The following figure will illustrate this model: