Corporate Social Responsibility in the Mining Industry in Australia

This paper discusses the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the mining industry in Australia, with a focus on companies like Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. It explores the benefits of CSR for mining companies and their operations in Australia.

Business Research
1/2/2019

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Abstract
The paper is prepared with the motive to throw the light of the opinions of different researcher or
authors in understanding the topic. The topic that has been discussed in the report is Corporate
Social Responsibility in the Mining Industry in Australia. This has been found that CSR plays a
vital role in the business through which they can meet their obligations towards society.
Further, it includes the discussion related to the CSR in the mining industry of Australia. This
has been found that the need of CSR is increasing by the companies and they follow the same as
they consider it as their obligation which is required to be met by them. The findings show that
CSR offers different opinions of the author on the benefits of CSR for the mining companies and
their operations with the survival in Australia. The examples of companies like Rio Tinto and
BHP Billiton has been included in the paper to support the argument presented for the CSR.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Project Objective.........................................................................................................................4
Project Scope...............................................................................................................................4
Literature review..............................................................................................................................5
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).......................................................................................5
Corporate Social Responsibility of Mining Industry in Australia...............................................6
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The purpose of writing the review of literature is to compare and contrast the reviews of different
authors on the particular topic. This has been found that the researcher has a different opinion
based on their research that has been done through the primary method or the secondary method.
The review is considered to analyse and evaluate the learnings of researchers towards the topic.
The topic on which the report is prepared is Corporate Social Responsibility in the Mining
Industry in Australia. The topic is important because it has become the obliged duty of the
company to conduct the activities of the CSR through.
In the last few decades, the profound changes that take place in the competitive environment are
increasing with the rise in the growth of the moral conscience of organisations. The importance
of the related aspects of sustainability and ethics has increased with the rise in social
responsibility. All these elements work as the traditional objectives that contribute in increasing
the sales and profitability. further, this leads to the combination of the triple bottom line that
majorly consists the economic, environment and the results related to the social element which
become the base of the CSR activities. This is found that the mining activities play an important
role towards the local economy that is majorly rich in mineral deposits, include the activities that
have an impact on the environment and also on the levels of the occupational safety for its
workers. This shows the importance of topic that is Corporate Social Responsibility in the
Mining Industry in Australia.
Further, this has been found that in the mining sector the stakeholder’s pressure on the businesses
to undertake CSR initiatives that have occurred that can create an adverse impact on the people,
communities and ecosystems. This has been found that there are very limited government

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regulations that need CSR despite the historical and contemporary cost and issue related to the
socio-environmental. This clearly shows the importance of the CSR in the mining industry of
Australia.
Project Objective
The aim of the research is to analyse or evaluate the CSR in the mining industry in Australia.
The objective majorly includes: -
 To analyse the CSR concept
 To analyse CSR in the mining industry in Australia
Project Scope
The scope of the literature review is wide because corporate social responsibility is considered as
the popular and wide topic that is required to be discussed. The literature review is analysed with
the help of the different journal articles, books and with relevant internet sources. This helps in
developing the understanding the concept of CSR and CSR in the mining industry in Australia.
Further, the structure of the article includes the analysis of the CSR activities that are supported
with the evidence and the examples.

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Literature review
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
According to the Schwartz (2017), CSR is a self-regulating model of business that assists in
helping the company to become socially accountable for itself, its stakeholders and towards the
public. The companies practice the corporate social responsibility that makes them the corporate
citizen. In addition to this, the author says that more visible and successful organisation is
considered as the more responsible because it abides by the set standards related to the ethical
behaviour for its peers, competition and industry. Agreeing to the same another McWilliams
(2015) depicts that CSR is considered as the broad concept that can take numerous forms
depending on the industry and company. CSR is defined as the combination of the social and
environmental factors that turns the values and operations to convert in a transparent and
accountable manner. The activities contribute effectively in forming the bond with the
employees which will contribute effectively in enhancing the morale and will make them feel
like that they connected with the operations of the company.
Yakovleva, (2017) shared the point of view that shows that the company needs to be responsible
enough towards its shareholders and to itself. The author disagrees with the above point of view
stated by the researcher because in the research it was determined by him that CSR works as the
major strategy for the large corporations. This has been found that the companies adopt the
programs of CSR with the motive to earn the more so that they can give back.
This has been found that International organisation for standardization has introduced a set of
voluntary standards is created to assist the organisation to implement the CSR. Further, unlike

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the other ISO standards, ISO 26000 offers guidance rather than the requirements as this has been
found that nature of the corporate social responsibilities is more quantitative and qualitative and
its standards cannot be certified.
Corporate Social Responsibility of Mining Industry in Australia
According to the Basu, Hicks, Krivokapic-Skoko and Sherley (2015), the mining industry has
taken a devil may care approach which leads to the influences of its operations which include;
this includes the social legitimacy operations in particular areas, mining operations leads to the
major devastation and leaving that particular area after exhausting all the economically valuable
resources. The companies involved in the mining industry generally make use of the language of
the cost-benefit which has been used to excuse the damage that causes in the place as it is
benefited in terms of the profit (Flammer, 2015). The methodology that is majorly used for
collecting the details is secondary data research method. In this research, the details have been
taken by the authors or researchers from the books, journal articles, and website of companies,
internet and many others.
In recent years, the Visser and Tolhurst (2017) say that the global mining industry has
acknowledged all its social and environmental obligations. Further, this has been found that
numerous factors have contributed in understanding the responsibility towards the society.
Mining industry of Australia has always remained in debates for environmental and social
sustainability. This is one of the reason due to which the CSR programmes of the mining
companies tend to an emphasis on the initiatives that are must be taken for the community as
they impact them in terms of the social, economic and environmental terms. For instance; the
one line slogan in Rio Tinto with the respect to CSR is “The Way We Work”. The company has
drafted different society engagement activities which contribute in building the trust of local

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bodies (Rio Tinto, 2018). All these activities support the organisation to get the knowledge
related to business concern with the critical issues.
Contrasting this Lim and Greenwood (2017), exhibit that effectiveness of the CSR initiative in
the oil, gas and mining is increasing which is possible with the help of the programmes and
initiatives. This has been found that the mining industry involves numerous companies who
adopt the CSR and perform the same after addressing the needs of the sustainability issues that
have created an impact on the communities. CSR activities or initiatives help the company in
improving or developing the lives of the communities which are affected due to the mining
industry in Australia.
According to views of Viveros (2016), Australian Mining Corporations emphasis on forming a
strong relationship in the local as well as an international market but they also focus on
expanding their business operations in the international market for which they need to abide by
all the rules and regulations. Mining corporations in Australia have employed strategies to bring
the improvement in the social and economic standing of the communities within which they
perform their business operations. Thus, this has been found that other organisations like
AusAID follow the supportive programs. In addition to this, the overseas government mining
officials are brought to Australia with the motive to attend the short courses to bring the
improvement in their capacity with the ability and capacity to effectively manage the resources
equitability and sustainability (Story and Neves, 2015). For example; BHP Billiton, one of the
largest Australian company in mining, oil and gas is involved in corporate social responsibility.
The company is not only the Australian one of the largest companies but it is the world's third
largest company in terms of the market capitalisation (Rio Tinto, 2018).

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Contradicting this, Rodrigues and Mendes (2018) said that CSR program and initiative
contribute the mining company to build the brand image in the market which means that CSR is
not only for forming the strong relationship but also for the branding of the products. The
branding is the way through which the company can generate high sales which lead to the rise in
the revenue of the company. For instance, Rio Tinto Company holds the CSR with the help of
the NGO partnering to form the brand building. The partnership with the NGO shows that the
company is performing the activities for the betterment of the community. In addition to this, the
author also states that brand insurance can be done with the help of CSR activities. In the brand
insurance, the company does not repeat the same mistakes and this makes them learn from their
experience. The manning company involved in the CSR can easily get the sense of risk and to
tackle the same in advance.
In the current era, this has been found that the needs of the society with the companies are
changing with the fluctuations in the demand. Considering the views of Grayson and Hodges
(2017), the need of the CSR and their implementation by the companies are increasing with the
rise in the expectation of the society with the companies for the efficiency improvement and
development in their lives. If in case, the companies are not able to meet the CSR then they will
high scandal, reduce in the trust of customers (Lins, Servaes and Tamayo, 2017). The company
meets the expectations or needs of the customers which contribute in meeting the trust of
customers.
Disagreeing to this Frederick (2016) says that mining company is responsible for bringing the
improvement towards the environment because there are numerous processes involved in the
operations of the mining that can affect the environment. Thus, the motive of the CSR activities
or initiatives is to maintain environmental stability. The companies involved in the mining

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industry of Australia also take the steps with the motive to protect or safeguard the environment
and to make use of the resources effectively so that they can maintain the sustainability of the
environment (Kang, Germann and Grewal, 2016). Thus, this has been found that the
environment is one of the major objectives of the CSR activities of the company that is
concerned by them. In the end, this can be stated that the research gap occurs because every
company has their own CSR practices and initiatives in the market. Thus, it is hard to reach on
the define practices of the companies with the help them to bring the improvement in
performance.

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Conclusion
In the end, this can be drawn from the above literature review that the mining organisations that
are present in the Australian mining industry are aware of their impact on the local communities.
This is the reason due to which they struggle to foster cohesive with the safe and living working
environments. The investment done by the companies for the community welfare leads to the
economic growth in the present and in the near future. This has been found that every
organisation identify their own CSR framework to meet the local, neighbouring and wider
communities. The mining companies majorly focus on facilities like education, health and social
development with the use of local resources and providing the local businesses and productions.
It can be said that the research related to the different issues related to the CSR to the company
has not been answered by the researchers.

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References
Basu, P.K., Hicks, J., Krivokapic-Skoko, B. and Sherley, C. (2015) Mining operations and
corporate social responsibility: A case study of a large gold mine in regional Australia. The
Extractive Industries and Society, 2(3), pp.531-539.
BHP Billiton (2018) Environment [Online]. Available from: https://www.bhp.com/environment
[Accessed on 2nd January 2018]
Flammer, C. (2015) Does corporate social responsibility lead to superior financial performance?
A regression discontinuity approach. Management Science, 61(11), pp.2549-2568.
Frederick, W.C. (2016) Commentary: corporate social responsibility: deep roots, flourishing
growth, promising future. Frontiers in psychology, 7, p.129.
Grayson, D. and Hodges, A. (2017) Corporate social opportunity!: Seven steps to make
corporate social responsibility work for your business. New York: Routledge.
Kang, C., Germann, F. and Grewal, R. (2016) Washing away your sins? Corporate social
responsibility, corporate social irresponsibility, and firm performance. Journal of
Marketing, 80(2), pp.59-79.
Lim, J.S. and Greenwood, C.A. (2017) Communicating corporate social responsibility (CSR):
Stakeholder responsiveness and engagement strategy to achieve CSR goals. Public Relations
Review, 43(4), pp.768-776.

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Lins, K.V., Servaes, H. and Tamayo, A. (2017) Social capital, trust, and firm performance: The
value of corporate social responsibility during the financial crisis. The Journal of Finance, 72(4),
pp.1785-1824.
McWilliams, A. (2015) Corporate social responsibility. Wiley encyclopedia of management,
pp.1-4.
Rio Tinto (2018) People and Partnership [Online]. Available from:
https://www.riotinto.com/our-commitment-107.aspx [Accessed on 2nd January 2018]
Rodrigues, M. and Mendes, L. (2018) Mapping of the literature on social responsibility in the
mining industry: A systematic literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 181, pp.88-101.
Schwartz, M.S. (2017) Corporate social responsibility. New York: Routledge.
Story, J. and Neves, P. (2015) When corporate social responsibility (CSR) increases
performance: exploring the role of intrinsic and extrinsic CSR attribution. Business Ethics: A
European Review, 24(2), pp.111-124.
Visser, W. and Tolhurst, N. (2017) The world guide to CSR: A country-by-country analysis of
corporate sustainability and responsibility. New York: Routledge.
Viveros, H. (2016) Examining stakeholders' perceptions of mining impacts and corporate social
responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 23(1), pp.50-
64.
Yakovleva, N. (2017) Corporate social responsibility in the mining industries. New York:
Routledge.