Introduction

This book is a sequel to Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia (2010), and retains the underlying aim to offer alternative perspectives to the existing dominant discourse of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Having previously examined the goals of CSR and their perceived ‘import’ into Asia, this volume, Corporate Social Responsibility and Local Community in Asia, looks further to ask what is at the root of all discourses, disciplines and implementation of CSR across the Asian region. When I first researched the perceptions of CSR in Japan (Fukukawa and Moon, 2004), I came to understand a number of subtle and alternative viewpoints about how CSR practices can be situated between both internal and globalized markets, and this prompted me to pursue editing my first book on CSR in Asia. While I was always aware I could not capture the area of research in its totality, I was struck with how readings of CSR varied across Asian countries; and subsequently how tall a task it was to present a fully representative view, particularly with regard to understanding the beginning of the supply chain. It has taken a second book, then, to focus attention on CSR in Asia in terms of issues of progress and local community engagement. This book aims to offer more insights from a wider set of Asian countries, which in part is to appreciate the variance of practices in these countries.