Towards Effective Models and Enforcement of Corporate Social Responsibility in Ethiopia

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept whereby companies regard stakeholder interests in reaching corporate decisions on voluntary basis. Even though CSR is not alien to Ethiopians who are known for their philanthropic and charitable activities, there is no law that expressly requires CSR standards and thresholds. Provisions of the 1960 Commercial Code and other domestic laws show that Ethiopian companies have the option to comply with CSR in their core business strategy and decision making. To that end, companies, have either individually or at sector level, developed model codes of conduct and guidelines including CSR projects and initiatives. However, these are inadequate and they do not guarantee effective CSR behavior among companies. There is thus the need to adequately integrate CSR practices into their core business decisions, and meet the interests and legitimate expectations of their employees, creditors, customers, local communities, and the environment. I argue that the alternatives to ensure effective CSR regulation in Ethiopia are adopting the Enlightened Shareholder Value (ESV) which recognizes a CSR framework tighter than the existing shareholder primacy model, or the Responsible Stakeholder Model (RSM) which adopts more subtle and lighter principles than stakeholder model to demand CSR compliance.