Corporate social responsibility: the role of Fortune 100 companies in domestic and international natural disasters

The failures of governments in emergency‐management‐related activities have highlighted the importance of how corporations engage in the response, recovery, planning, and mitigation of disasters. Through the content analysis of corporate social responsibility reports from Fortune 100 companies (N = 84), this study found that most corporations engage in disaster‐related activities for instrumental and ethical reasons. Short‐term relief and recovery activities were reactive and episodic‐based, and included financial and in‐kind activities to employee and customer stakeholder groups. In the case of predictable or more ‘stable’ threats (e.g. disease), proactive long‐term initiatives included a broader stakeholder group, where activities ranged from financial‐based forms of assistance to collaborative partnerships with NGOs and governments. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.