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The origins of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been widely attributed to the work of scholars, and business managers as well, in North America and Western Europe. Inevitably, however, as the economic interaction of individual firms and entire nations has grown over the past several decades — call it globalization — so too has the concept and the practice of CSR spread throughout the world. It is certainly time to explore how CSR is being incorporated into the practice of business management in other regions and other countries. Therefore, in this chapter we will focus on Asia: specifically on Japan, South Korea, India, and China. It is interesting for academicians to understand how CSR is being absorbed and adapted into the business cultures of these four countries. Perhaps of even greater importance, it is vital that business managers know what to expect about the interaction between business and society as well as the government as their commercial activities grow in this burgeoning part of the world.

For each of these four countries, we will provide an overview of the extent to which CSR has become a part of the academic community and also how it is being practiced and incorporated in everyday management affairs. We will see that there are very significant differences among these countries which lead to the natural question: why? To answer this question, we will use an eight-part analytical framework developed specifically for this purpose. We will look at the history, the dominant religious beliefs, the relevant social customs, the geography, the political structures, the level of economic development, civil society institutions, and the “safety net” of each country. As a result of this analysis, we believe, academicians can learn how CSR is absorbed and spread into commercial affairs, and managers can profit from learning more about what to expect when doing business in this increasingly important region.

Since 2013, the Indian Companies Act Section 135 has mandated corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting by Indian central public sector enterprises (CPSEs). CSR reporting is regulated by multiple Government of India ministerial agencies, each requiring different formats and often different data. This study aims to understand the impact of these multiple regulatory bodies on CSR reporting by Indian CPSEs; evaluate the expectation gap between regulators and the regulated; and investigate the compliance burden on CPSEs.

An interview-based approach was adopted to evaluate the perspectives of both regulators and regulated CPSEs on the impact of the new regulations on CSR reporting quality. The authors use the lens of institutional theory to analyse the findings.

Driven by coercive institutional pressures, CPSEs are overburdened with myriad reporting requirements, which significantly negatively impact CPSEs’ financial and human resources and the quality of CSR activity and reports. It is difficult for CPSEs to assess the actual impact of their CSR activities due to overlapping with activities of the government/other institutions. The perceptions of regulators and the regulated are divergent: the regulators expect CPSEs to select more impactful CSR projects to comply with mandatory reporting requirements.

The findings of this study emphasise the need for meaningful dialogue between regulators and the regulated to reduce the expectation gap and establish a single regulatory authority that will ensure that the letter and spirit of the law are followed in practice and not just according to a tick-box approach.