The Practice of Corporate Community Engagement in Enhancing Corporate Social Responsibility Activities in Ethiopia - The Case of Local Brewery Companies

Abstract

Corporate community engagement strategy is useful means of evaluating community needs. This study examines the practice of corporate community engagement strategy of local brewery companies in Ethiopia based on Bowel et al., 2010 model. Mixed method was employed and 718 data was collected from both the company and local community. Descriptive and thematic analyses were utilized to analyze study results. The result of the study indicated that local brewery companies have organizational arrangement for CSR activities but their strategy deviate from Bowel et al., 2010 strategy model. The result specified the unique behavior of engagement practice of Ethiopian local brewery companies. The brewery companies interact with local community through local government office namely, city agriculture office. The city agriculture office plays an intermediary role in enabling the CSR issues between the companies and local community. The city agriculture office communicates and discuss with the brewery companies about CSR needs of the community. The local community expresses their immense dissatisfaction on the absence of direct interaction. The government office needs to revise their role and help to build direct interaction between the two parties in order to enhance CSR activities.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Community Engagement Strategy, Local Brewery Company

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