Tipos de diversificación

Newell and Frynas (2007) note that tourism BSR can be designed in various ways. Consequently, there are numerous approaches to tourism BSR. The most popular approach is philanthropy. Incorporation of tourism BSR activities to business strategies is also another approach common among tourism businesses. Other tourism businesses involve in BSR programmes for benchmarking in the competitive environment. Newell and Frynas argue that tourism BSR is anything one needs it to be, while Evngelinos, Zotou, Kavakli and Balis (2008) highlight that many socio- economic theories relate tourism BSR adoption processes to variables such as the size, age and profit volumes of businesses. According to Lund-Thomsen (2005), tourism BSRs have been a subject of many discussions and debates over the years, which take various forms and are supported by different interests, as reflected in Table 5.1. The current study seeks to assess an understanding and origin of BSR

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concept in the South African tourism industry, with a particular reference of Western Cape Province.

Crane and Matten (2007) indicate that globally BSRs date as far back as the 1950s in the form of philanthropic activities. During this period, companies typically supported good initiatives with donations, and the BSR concept developed around social and environmental issues, ethics and stakeholder interests. Diorisio and McCain (2012) argue that philanthropy was initially entirely charitable. Today, most tourism companies are integrating BSR in their business core strategies to empower the poor and marginalised sections of society (Lund-Thomsen, 2005). Although this is the case, a key issue is on the extent to which tourism businesses empower the poor, more also how well this BSR phenomenon is known in the South African tourism industry. Hence, this study was undertaken. Taru and Gukurume (2013) state that although BSR has a long and protracted history, it is a new phenomenon in the tourism industry. While it is evident that the concept of BSR has been around since the 1950s, the fundamental question of the current study relates to the sustainability of its application since its inception, and the changes that have been occurring in its implementation.

111 Table 5.1: A timeline of ethical and socially responsibility concerns (Adapted

from Business Ethics Timeline cited by Ferrell, Hirt & Ferrell, 2009:39)

Crane and Matten (2007) identify four BSR generations. The first encompasses business social stewardship, which was common among very few tourism businesses in the 1950s and 1960s in the developed countries. Voluntary philanthropic initiatives that provided funds to support different projects were the main influences during this phase. These initiatives aimed at closing the gap between the rich and poor, mostly through donations. Donations from these few tourism businesses were made for education, health, community groups, youth groups and other social projects. According to Crane and Matten (2007), tourism businesses in countries that have few rigorous legal requirements, such as the United States, use this approach. After World War II, the focus of these tourism businesses was on the necessity to continue supporting colonised countries such as South Africa; education and health became priorities, while the control of local resources remained in the hands of foreign governments. Today, the local resources are still in the hands of the minority and foreign-owned tourism business. The researcher argues that BSR initiatives should be strengthen to minimise the dominance of the elite over local resources.

A timeline of ethical and social responsibility concerns

1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

-Environmental issues -Civil rights issues -Increased employee- employer tension -Honesty

-Changing work ethic -Rising drug use

-Employee militancy -Human rights issues -Covering up rather than correcting issues -Discrimination -Harassment

-Bribes and illegal contracting practices -Influence peddling -Deceptive advertising -Financial fraud -Transparency

-Sweatshop and unsafe working conditions in developing countries -Rising corporate liability for personal damages -Financial

mismanagement and fraud

-Employee benefits -Privacy issues

-Financial mismanagement -Intellectual property theft -Responsible consumption -The role of business in promoting sustainable development

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The second generation of tourism BSR developed during the 1980s and 1990s and was characterised by business social responsiveness to local political, social, economic and environmental conditions. It developed because of growing public social activism towards the industry of tourism. Activists demanded that tourism companies move from passive to active actions and advance beyond voluntary philanthropy (Crane & Matten, 2007). This raised different views and opinions as well as questions among geographers and tourism researchers, such as whether BSR should be an enforced or voluntary practice, and who should choose the type of BSR activities to implement. From this perspective, Broomhill (2007) argues that BSR should be a voluntary exercise tourism businesses choose to practice. Evngelinos et al. (2008) believe that tourism businesses should rather invest only in those areas where they are likely to have a competitive advantage to sustain themselves. Hence, the current study investigated the BSR driving forces of the Western Cape tourism businesses. The study also provides an in-depth analysis of tourism businesses’ compliance with government regulations rather than their commitment to BSR. Mah (2004) mentions that tourism businesses operate in the context of changing ideas and ideologies. Thus, while liberalisation and deregulation intensified privatisation in the 1970s and 1980s in regions such as the United Kingdom, globalisation was to consolidate privatisation on a global scale (Kinderman, 2012). Large foreign-owned tourism businesses began monopolising the industry, especially in developing countries, and many local resources benefitted the international market rather than local markets. This highlighted the importance for tourism businesses to justify their existence in local communities through BSR initiatives. The developing countries such as South Africa and the Western Cape Province in particular continue to attract foreign-owned tourism businesses.

Most developing countries became the prime targets of globalisation and privatisation. Although this was obvious in mining sectors, the tourism industry was also affected. Neoliberalism of tourism became a serious worry, especially to indigenous people in South Africa. The disputes over land that was subject to tourism use, such as South Africa national parks and reserves, became serious concerns among local communities as the power over land and resources was taken away from them. During this era, developed countries fought over the resources of

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South Africa and other developing countries. Mah (2004) further states that the unification of movements and launch of a public relations campaign during the mid- 1970s were responses to the general dissatisfaction over tourism businesses’ control of land and resources.

It was only from the 1980s to the 1990s that tourism businesses in developed countries began applying BSR approaches to business operations. However, at this period more damage was already caused. Nonetheless, the call for change came from public protests through demonstrations and campaigns expressing worker expectations to various tourism companies. In addition, the results of the undesirable activities of some corporations, which negatively affected society, were the main motivators of public protests during this era (Mah, 2004). For example, working conditions at indirect tourism businesses such as Newmont Mining Corporation in Namibia were deplorable, and Nestlé was accused of promoting malnutrition and infant death in numerous countries through its infant formula. Today, Nestlé is recognised as one of the top ten socially responsible companies (Zhou, Poon & Huang, 2012). The protests led to new government regulations in the interests of workers, the environment, society and the economy (Thomsen, 2005). In South Africa, tourism companies had to specify their social responsibility activities to operate internationally (Mah, 2004). Nevertheless, the involvement of foreign tourism businesses in BSR in developing countries remains questionable. The current study examined the extent and effectiveness of foreign-owned tourism businesses’ implementation of BSR activities that promote empowerment rather than dependency. Other tourism BSR forces in the Western Cape rather than international acceptance were also evaluated in the this study.

The imperative of tourism business ethics, with an emphasis on stakeholders' rights, fairness and justice, ushered in the third BSR era (Crane & Matten, 2007). The concept of BSR was communicated through mission statements, codes of ethics and audits. Indirect tourism companies such as Shell and British Petroleum (BP) and direct tourism businesses like Sun international hotels used BSR to improve the conditions of their workers. The fourth phase covers corporate global citizenship in the tourism industry from the 1990s and 2000s to date. It concerns the importance of tourism companies treating all business stakeholders with respect and dignity while

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being mindful of their other impacts. Although this phase is more popular with companies such as Coca Cola and Microsoft, Richter (2001) argues that tourism corporations are engaging in corporate responsibility and philanthropy activities to prove that government regulations are unnecessary. Thomsen (2005) contends that many tourism companies are willing to incorporate social activities into their core business routines to create more wealth because they now see some positive feedback effects between BSR, customer patronage, worker productivity and business profits. An understanding of different reasons for BSR engagement in the tourism industry in the Western Cape Province was found imperative to the current study to inform policy formulation processes.

During the fourth phase of tourism BSR, governments designed laws to regulate activities and hold tourism companies accountable for their activities. Governments in developed countries established regulatory bodies which also were applicable to the industry of tourism, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (Crane & Matten, 2007). In addition, other regulatory bodies such as the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes in 1981, the 1985 FAO International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides and the 1985 UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection were implemented in the 1980s (Mah, 2004).

According to Mah (2004), few tourism corporations began acknowledging the positive effects of business social responsibility initiatives. These tourism companies began focusing on issues such as industrial pollution and the improvement of occupational health. Broomhill (2007) states that, to avoid public criticism and attempts at regulation, tourism corporations are re-establishing their legitimacy by adopting BSR strategies. This provided the basis for raising fundamental questions about the purpose and goals of BSR in South Africa. Although much has been achieved to date in relation to BSR, in South Africa tourism foreign direct investors and TNCs do not have any legally binding global code of conduct (Mah, 2004). BSRs in South Africa and globally is mainly a self-regulated and voluntary activity, which raises concerns about the tourism industry’s impacts on society and the environment (Mah, 2004; Broomhill, 2007). Nevertheless, some international standards and guidelines do exist. These include the UN Global Compact, and the ISO 14000 and

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14001 environmental standards developed by the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) in Switzerland (Mah, 2004). The UN Global Compact features the nine principles of core values in the areas of human rights, labour and the environment aimed at guiding tourism businesses in BSR activities, as discussed in Chapter Two. However, the level of awareness and adherence with these international standards and guidelines in the tourism industry are questionable. Blowfield (2007), Coles,Fenclova and Dinan (2013), and Taru and Gukurume(2013) argue that the classical forms of BSR activities within the tourism and hospitality sectors tend to have a characteristic environmental bias with an emphasis on the efficient use of energy and technology. In response to Agenda 21, international tourism sustainability guidelines were established through a collaboration between the WTO, WTTC, and the Earth Council. However, the guidelines favoured environmental issues. In 2010, ISO established ISO 26000, commonly known as ISOSR, an international standard that provides guidelines for social responsibility. Its aim is to encourage tourism organisations to discuss their social responsibility issues and possible actions with the relevant stakeholders (Zhou et al., 2012). In addition, the organisation intends to provide practical guidelines for implementing social responsibility, identifying and involving stakeholders, enhancing reports and claiming credibility (CBI Market Information Database, 2010). The researcher in the current study argues that in developing countries the level of tourism BSR regulations binding is very weak. There is lack of government intervention, which promotes decision-making and power in the hands of foreign tourism multi-corporations.

The recent establishment of ISO 26000 requires a more detailed analysis to determine the tourism industry’s view on environmental bias. Hence, some of the objectives of this study focused on identifying the various types of BSR activities carried out by the Western Cape tourism industry. The researcher also analysed the Western Cape tourism sector’s approach to, and interpretation of, BSR and assessed the contribution of such BSR activities to local economic development. Furthermore, the role of the tourism private sector as the main tourism development agency was investigated. Sharp (2006) states that international and national development agencies have planned to introduce a BSR development list since the

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late 1990s, and the researcher considered the significance of this intention in the study.