Title: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in the telecommunications downstream supply chains: the case of MTN in Uganda

Authors: Benon C. Basheka, Flavia Serugo

Addresses: Head Higher Degrees Department, Uganda Management Institute, Plot 44-52, Jinja Road P.O. Box 20131, Kampala, Uganda. ' MTN Uganda, Plot 22 Hannington Road, P.O. Box 24624, Kampala, Uganda

Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a top management concern in companies within different sectors and the growing telecommunications sector in developing countries cannot be an exception. This paper reports results of an investigation into the effect of CSR initiatives by MTN-Uganda on the development of local communities. The results are from a cross-sectional survey design that used two 5-Likert survey instruments: 1) for employees, dealers and sub dealers in MTN products (alpha = 0.950); 2) customers and community beneficiaries (alpha = 0.902). The analysis of data used descriptive and relational statistics where it was revealed that CSR initiatives were in a significant way positively related to community development. The results compare well with international findings and suggestions for policy and management essential for purchasing managers as well as other stakeholders are presented.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; CSR initiatives; SCM; supply chain management; community development; Uganda; local communities; Mobile Telephone Networks; MTN Group; telecommunications industry; downstream supply chains; developing countries; cross-sectional surveys; Rensis Likert; five-point Likert scale; employees; dealers; sub dealers; mobile phones; cell phones; customers; community beneficiaries; data analysis; descriptive statistics; relational statistics; purchasing managers; stakeholders; multinational corporations; MNCs; procurement management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPM.2011.041092

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2011 Vol.4 No.4, pp.402 - 418

Published online: 31 Jan 2015 *

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