Part Four
donations to sports clubs, 75% of interviewed hotels found these activities to be “not applicable”, 15% the same and 10% some changes. In terms of donations to temples/churches, 70% stated “not applicable” and 30% “the same”. However, similar to the other two sectors, most hotels sustained their cultural practices to assist workers such as providing short-term loans, allowances for sick leave, and donations of books and money. [ 267] We now turn to the importance for efficiency and competitiveness of external factors in terms of relations with key stakeholders, including how the influence of history, culture, industry and other factors is perceived.
Importance of stakeholders for efficiency and competitiveness The most important areas for efficiency were “making good products/services” (33%), “other” (25%), and “relations to customers” (20%). Similarly, the most important areas for competitiveness included “making good products/services” (43%) and “other” (45%). The least important areas for competitiveness were “relations to government” (39%) and “relations to unions” (33%), while the least important areas for efficiency were “relations to unions” (53%) and “relations to suppliers” (23%). [ 268] Overall, most hotels valued services and relations with customers highly to enhance both efficiency and competitiveness, while most clearly did not value relations with unions, the government and suppliers. Since most interviewed hotels were small (16 out of 20 hotels interviewed were small), they were not required to form unions. Most interviewed hotels rated “quality” highest along with “relations to customers” and “preserving the working environment”. For instance, relations to customers were highly valued: “Because customers determine our revenue”, or “our customers are a decisive factor in the development of our hotel”, and “customers’ mentality really affect our profit.” Nearly as important were maintaining “a good image”, “relationship to employees,” and “preserving the physical environment.” On relations with workers, managers tended to link workers with profitability and serving customers well. For example, “employees must have a positive attitude to increase our profit. For instance, we encourage our workers to clean windows [when not working on other tasks] instead
[267] Further information on this issue can be found at the end of the section summarizing the findings from the three sectors. See also Appendix G, Tables VN.82-VN.85, and VN.1 19-VN.1 22.
[268] See Tables VN.1 23-VN.1 26 in Appendix G.
163
© AFD / November 2012 / Corporate Social Responsibility and Competitiveness for SMEs in Developing Countries