The strategic territorial senses of corporate social responsibility: an analysis from cellulose corporations in Brazil

Abstract

Over the last three decades, discourses and practices guided by the principle of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have gained notoriety and wide diffusion in the business environment, with theoretical developments in the academic sphere as well. In Brazil, the arboreal-cellulosic segment is one of the most prominent in the adoption of such principle. The objective of this article is to establish a critical view on CSR, demonstrating its multiple facets and contradictions in the highlighted productive segment, based on available literature and research findings. The main argument is that programs and projects oriented by social responsibility, far from being disinterested, are strategic from several points of view, including the pressing need for corporate territorial expansion.