ABSTRACT
Although the role of business in society has been debated broadly since the 1970s, contemporary views suggest the business of a company is not restricted to making profit and maximizing shareholder value (UNCTAD 2011; UN 2012; WBCSD 2012); more emphasis is placed on stakeholders. The term stakeholder is defined broadly to include both business-related people and entities such as employees and suppliers, and non-related people and entities such as communities, situated near a company site and communities in general (Freeman 1984; Yodprudtikan et al. 2006). Companies—from multinationals to small and medium-sized businesses—increasingly appreciate the rationale of extending resources to upgrade standards of living in communities (Dixon and Clifford 2007; Thorne et al. 2008; Fisher et al. 2009); they aim for sustainability, and care for people occupying the bottom of society. In line with this movement, community engagement draws the attention of readers in the CSR literature. Most cases illustrate how a company contributes to a community altruistically, but community engagement is often portrayed as one-sided, with a community as participant in a project initiated by a person or entity from outside the community. This chapter illustrates cases from the context of Thailand in which community members make changes from the inside out, demonstrating how a company acts as a catalyst for change. In these cases, companies do not go to a community and solve problems directly; they convince and support a community to get involved in a learning process so community members discover problems and resolutions on their own. Com panies commit to creating social capital and upgrading human resources for greater sustainability, one of self-reliance. These acts demonstrate that eco nomic, environmental, and social developments are achievable without sacrificing or destroying the others.
