Corporate citizenship: Panacea or problem?

In this paper I examine the dilemma between being a market leader and a corporate citizen in the case of Hindustan Unilever Ltd. Grounded in secondary data collected from various published sources, I uncover the contradictions that underlie the positive picture of Hindustan Unilever\u27s CSR activities. By drawing on corporate social responsibility and stakeholder theories, I highlight how difficult it is to categorise an organisation as solely positive or negative in its impact on its social and physical environment. I conclude by arguing that we need more sophisticated evaluative frameworks to understand and evaluate real-world initiatives in this area

A conceptual model of an access-technology-agnostic delivery mechanism for ICT4D services

Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) is an emerging research area that is concerned with the beneficial applications of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to achieve developmental goals. ICT4D is thus concerned with designing and developing innovative technologies for resource-constrained environments for applications in key areas of social development such as health, agriculture and education. The ICT4D initiatives, therefore, are driving three main tasks, namely developing the required infrastructure (connectivity, electricity and computing devices) sustainably, building the required ICT human capacity, and providing access to digital content and services. Each of these three main thrusts necessitates innovation. This study addresses the evident lack of delivery mechanisms to facilitate access to digital content and services to end-users through the technologies that these end-users already possess. This lack of innovative delivery mechanisms is both an impediment to achieving equitable access to digital content and service and an opportunity to innovate. Therefore, drawing from the theoretical background of ICT4D, this study develops a set of technical and socio-technical requirements that the missing delivery mechanisms should satisfy. The study also explores the Service Delivery Platform (SDP) concept as a technically viable basis for the required delivery mechanisms. The study then develops a conceptual model of an Access-Technology-Agnostic Delivery Mechanism as a possible delivery mechanism that facilitates equitable access to digital content and services within an ICT4D context. The relevance of the conceptual model is established and, through a prototype implementation, the technical feasibility and utility of the conceptual model is demonstrated. The conceptual model is demonstrated through a proof of concept implementation using standards-based open source technologies. The proof of concept clearly demonstrates that the access-technology-agnostic delivery of digital content and services is achievable, thus making the same service accessible through different access technologies. In developing the Access-Technology-Agnostic Delivery Mechanism, this study contributes through innovation to providing access to digital content and services in an access-technology-agnostic manner