Sustainability Accounting and Corporate Social Responsibility in Turkey and in Its Region

Akdogan, Nalan; Selimoglu, Seval Kardes; Turkcan, Medine Article Sustainability Accounting and Corporate Social Responsibility in Turkey and in Its Region Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems (JAMIS) Provided in Cooperation with: The Bucharest University of Economic Studies Suggested Citation: Akdogan, Nalan; Selimoglu, Seval Kardes; Turkcan, Medine (2020) : Sustainability Accounting and Corporate Social Responsibility in Turkey and in Its Region, Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems (JAMIS), ISSN 2559-6004, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Vol. 19, Iss. 1, pp. 5-32, https://doi.org/10.24818/jamis.2020.01001 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/310761 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Accounting and Management Information Systems Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 5-32, 2020 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24818/jamis.2020.01001 Sustainability accounting and corporate social responsibility in Turkey and in its region Nalan Akdogana, Seval Kardes Selimoglu 1 , Medine Turkcana a Baskent University, Bağlıca Campus, Ankara, Turkey Abstract Research question: As a newly developing area, this paper aims investigate recent developments and applications of social responsibility practices in Turkey and in the neighboring regions in a comparative way. Motivation: The sustainability reporting is relatively a new subject in Turkey both in practice and in academic circles. The introduction of Corporate Social Responsibility as a concept in Turkey does not have a long history. The last five years witnessed a significant change in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) applications. Increasing number of companies started to implement sustainability accounting and corporate social responsibility practices. Companies began to adopt corporate social responsibility by considering it as a tool for mediumand long-term success. As a reflection of growing interest in sustainability and CSR, the number of NGO’s and consultancy firms operating in this field has also increased recently. In 2014, Sustainability Index was created within the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). Idea: The understanding of the social responsibility applications and priority areas vary between different countries depending on their economic, social and political dynamics. In order to see the intra-regional variations, in this paper, we compare corporate social responsibility and sustainability applications in Turkey and in the neighboring regions by selecting Russia and Greece in the same region. Data: For the analysis, we collect recent sustainability reports of Turkish companies from GRI database and make a content analysis to evaluate practical applications of CSR and sustainability in Turkey. Then, we discuss corporate social responsibility applications in Russia and Greece. In the first part of our paper we examine corporate social responsibility and sustainability applications in Turkey by making an analysis of sustainability reports and CSR activities in Turkey. In the following part we discuss corporate social responsibility applications in the neighboring regions and make a comparison with Turkey. To this end, sustainability reports of Russian Federation and Greek companies in GRI database are analyzed for CSR activities. In the final part of our paper, we make a comparative analysis of CSR applications in Turkey and in the 1 Corresponding author: Department of Accounting, Business Administration Faculty, Anadolu University, Yunus Emre Campus, Eskisehir/ Turkey, 26470, Email: [email protected] Sustainability accounting and corporate social responsibility in Turkey and in its region 6 Vol. 19, No. 1 neighboring regions. Findings: The final analysis of CSR in Turkey and neighboring countries supports the idea that understanding of CSR varies in different countries depending on their social structure and economic development level. Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, sustainability accounting, sustainability index JEL codes: M14, M41 1. Introduction “Social responsibility can only become reality if more managers become moral instead of amoral or immoral.” (Caroll, 1991) The sustainability idea firstly emerged as an economic concept and sustainability and sustainable economic development are used interchangeably, leaving social and environmental dimensions of sustainability in an inferior position. Starting from mid 1970’s, people started to talk about the dangers of massive economic development for the environment and for the whole society in general. Currently the idea of sustainability evolved into a more sophisticated idea of considering sustainability as the rights of future generations and leaving them a “clean” environment and living conditions while mankind continues its economic development. The awareness of sustainable development also increased as a result of efforts of various international organizations and NGO’s. United Nations has played a pioneering role in sustainable development issues. Sustainable development first came to attention of the world in a global scale with 1972 Stockholm Conference of UN in which attending countries discussed for the first-time negative impacts of economic development on the environment. The 1982 UN Summit in Rio de Janeiro was a turning point where UN Convention on Biodiversity, Convention to Combat Desertification and Framework Convention on Climate Change were opened for signature of attending states. As part of ongoing efforts of United Nations to promote sustainability, UN General Assembly defined 17 sustainable development goals in 2030 Agenda of United Nations as a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for the world. The goals address the global challenges including poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, peace and justice. OECD is the other international organization working actively on sustainable development by monitoring the sustainability through its sustainable development indicators. Advances in management systems, reporting standards, use of technology and growing attention on environmental, social and economic sustainability accelerated Accounting and Management Information Systems Vol. 19, No. 1 7 the importance of sustainability issues among companies. According to Chiu (2010), CSR reporting has moved from dominantly environmental reporting to more general sustainability reports encompassing various areas of social interest such as community and social impact, and human capital reporting. Three key developments witnessed over the last five years include the development of autonomous or standalone CSR reports, the acceptance and adoption of standardized reporting guidelines, in particular, those developed by the Global Reporting Initiative ("GRI"), and the growth of CSR ratings and thirdly the development of the assurance industry for CSR reports. International organizations and initiatives have also played a guiding role for companies in forming sustainability reports which can be defined as written public declarations of companies on their social, environmental and corporate management activities. Currently, reporting of CSR is realized according to four different reporting frameworks: 1G4 reporting framework of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 2Communication on Progress (COP) reporting of UN Global Compact 3Integrated Reporting (IR) framework of International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) 4Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reporting of Carbon Disclosure Project. It is observed that most companies prefer to use the G4 reporting framework for CSR reporting. As a reflection of growing awareness on sustainable development, countries started to develop sustainability indexes according to social, environmental and economic performances of companies. In the late 1990’s Dow Jones sustainability index was launched as a first global indicator on sustainability. Contemporary understanding of sustainability is based on three main pillars: economic, social and environmental. The concept of corporate sustainability is seen as an indispensable part in achieving these three pillars of sustainability in that the terms of sustainability and corporate sustainability are used synonymously. Corporate sustainability offers various tools to transform conceptual idea of sustainability into more practical and concrete results and actions. The concepts of sustainable economic development, corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate accountability and stakeholder theory has developed under the general heading of corporate sustainability among which corporate social responsibility having the utmost importance (Pekdemir, 2013). Studies of Caroll made important contributions to the formation of contemporary understanding of the corporate social responsibility. Carroll (1991) specified economics, law, ethics and philanthropic domains as the main elements of corporate responsibility that companies should realize in their CSR performance to achieve community demands and acceptance. These so called four responsibilities then formed CSR pyramid of Carroll. In general definition, corporate social responsibility refers to ethical, social and environmental responsibilities of companies while undertaking their everyday business activities in which broad range of activity areas are covered such as environmental protection, healthcare, education, social justice and equality, social rights and workforce equality. Sustainability accounting and corporate social responsibility in Turkey and in its region 8 Vol. 19, No. 1 Emergence of sustainability reporting and studies on sustainability in Turkey coincides with global developments on sustainability. Turkey signed international treaties of UN on environment and ecological protection in 1990’s. In 2004, National Sustainable Development Commission was formed to formalize national strategies and plans on sustainable development. In 2014, Sustainability Index was created within the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). Government and companies in Turkey consider sustainable development as a way to increase international competitiveness of Turkish companies in global arena. Government promotes sustainability reporting and sustainable development issues as part of its national development plan. As stated above the sustainability reporting is relatively a new subject in Turkey both in practice and in academic circles. Academic studies on the CSR and sustainability studies in Turkey started to gain momentum after 2010 focusing on mainly two broad categories of content analysis of CSR reports in selected sectors in Turkey and the studies attempting to measure the impact of CSR applications on the company’s performances. This paper aims to contribute academic literature on Turkey by making a recent and thorough review of CSR reports of Turkish companies in terms of their contents and making a comparison with its neighboring countries in order to see the intra-regional variations in CSR reporting that is lacking in the current literature. In this paper, we will follow a comparative analysis of corporate social responsibility and sustainability applications in Turkey and in the neighboring regions. The following of our paper is structured in four parts. In the first part, current literature and academic studies on corporate social responsibility are presented. The first part of the paper also covers historical development of sustainability and CSR reporting in Turkey in order to give a complete picture of CSR as a newly developing area in Turkey. In the second part, we examine sustainability and corporate social responsibility applications in Turkey. For our analysis, we collect recent sustainability reports of Turkish companies from GRI database and make a content analysis to evaluate practical applications of CSR and sustainability in Turkey. Then, we discuss corporate social responsibility applications in the neighboring region. For this aim we selected Russia and Greece as representatives for analyzing sustainability and CSR applications in the region since both countries have similar levels of development in the region. In the final part of our paper, we make a comparative analysis of CSR applications in Turkey and in the neighboring regions. 2. Literature review The ideas of ethical, environmental, social responsibilities of companies and sustainable development originate from developed countries of the west especially from North America. First academic writings and research on CSR and sustainability mainly focused on relationship between the social responsibilities and financial performance of the companies. First definitions of CSR can be found in Bowen’s (1953) and Barnard’s studies in 1950’s and 60’s. In Barnard’s extensive work called Accounting and Management Information Systems Vol. 19, No. 1 9 “functions of the executives” (1968), he defines CSR as “economic, legal, moral, social and physical aspects of business environment”. Carroll (1979) made a more elevated definition of CSR and developed a four-level understanding of CSR as economic, legal, ethical and discretionary (philanthropic) responsibilities of a company. Caroll (1979) defined CSR as: “The social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time.” Apart from four-dimensional model, he also developed “the Pyramid of CSR” in 1991. According to this hierarchical model, he lists responsibilities of a company as economic performance at the bottom, followed by legal, ethical issues and continues with philanthropic responsibilities at the top in a hierarchy. Later, Schwartz and Caroll (2003) modified his early four-level definition of CSR and came up with Three-Dimensional Model of CSR as economic, legal and ethical responsibilities. European scholars had gradually entered the discussion of CSR and gained momentum across all European countries starting from mid-2000’s. Yet, as Maon et al. (2017) stated in their recent analysis, comparative, pan-European studies of actual CSR practices developed by corporate actors are scarce. Most practice-focused CSR studies provide a single-country analysis. In their comprehensive study, Maon et al. (2017) conducted a comparative study including 499 CSR initiatives implemented by 178 companies in five distinct, institutionally consistent European clusters and found that CSR actions are characterized by strong differences among companies that distinguish regional clusters. Albareda et al. (2007) and Jackson and Apostolakou (2010) also conducted comparative studies in the European level analyzing he factors shaping CSR practices considering the role of governments and other institutional actors. While most studies in the field of CSR mainly focusing on West European countries, Albu et al. (2016) investigated CSR practices in Central and East European region focusing on similarities and differences among selected Central and East European countries. The other studies focused on different aspects of CSR like quality of CSR reporting (Beelde & Tuybens, 2015), CSR and bank risk profile (Gambetta et al., 2017). Jain et al. (2011) analyzed the link between psychosocial risk management and SCR practices through questionnaire and interviews across Europe. When we look at the academic literature on CSR and sustainability studies in Turkey, we see proliferation of the academic studies after 2010 which coincides with the leaping of the number of Turkish companies publishing CSR reports. Two mainstream academic literatures in Turkey on CSR and sustainability revolve around content analysis of CSR reports in selected sectors in Turkey, including a comparative analysis with other countries and econometric models aiming to measure the impact of CSR applications on company’s overall performance. Sustainability accounting and corporate social responsibility in Turkey and in its region 10 Vol. 19, No. 1 As one of the first academic studies on the CSR reports of the Turkish companies, Robertson (2009) compared social responsibility applications and reporting in Turkey, Singapore and Ethiopia and proposed that there is need for redefining CSR for developing countries by taking cultural, social, political, and economic factors into consideration, rather than standardizing CSR activities in all over the world. Ertuna and Tukel (2009) conducted a content and impact analysis of CSR disclosures of Turkish companies in ISE50 index and found that social responsibility activities are mainly realized as a part of traditional philanthropic activities of family owned companies as well as profit-oriented activities. Later, Nuhoglu and Wan (2012) studied corporate social responsibility disclosures of 271 manufacturing companies in Turkey and China in the year 2009 concluding that though both countries present rather low levels of CSR practices, Chinese companies’ scores are lower than Turkish companies’ scores, especially in the domain of economy and society. With the increasing number of Turkish companies involving in CSR reporting, academic studies on the content analysis of the reports have also increased. Çetinkaya et al. (2015) reviewed corporate social responsibility reports of 48 companies from the Borsa Istanbul (BIST) Corporate Governance Index in terms of Caroll’s CSR Pyramid and concluded that philanthropic responsibility was found to have priority for community stakeholder groups, economic responsibility is important for suppliers and legal responsibility is important for environment stakeholder groups. Demir et al. (2016) reviewed 176 sustainability reports in Turkey between 2005-2014 in GRI database and found that large amount of companies in Turkey prefer to invest in educational projects as part of social responsibility activities. Duman et al. (2016) compared CSR practices in construction industry in UK and Turkey. As one of the recent studies on CSR, Öztürk and Marşap (2018) made a comparative content analysis of corporate social responsibility reporting in Telco industry in US, UK and Turkey and concluded that telco industry in general focuses more on the community issues such as education, healthcare, protecting rights of children and women and relatively less on the environmental issues. As parallel to content analysis of CSR reports, some academic studies started to evaluate the impact of the CSR reports on the performances of the companies in Turkey. Aras et al. (2011) analyzed interaction between value added intellectual capital (VAIC) and CSR on a sample of manufacturing companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) during the period 2007-2008 and they could not find any significant relationship between CSR and VAIC during the period analyzed. Arsoy et al. (2012) investigated relationship between CSR and company financial performance of 28 companies in Turkey listed in Istanbul Stock Exchange Corporate Governance Index and found that companies having good financial performance also have better social responsibility scores. Ozcelik et al. (2014) studied the impact of financial performance, firm size, firm risk, type of ownership on CSR of selected companies in ISE and found a significant relationship between firm size and Accounting and Management Information Systems Vol. 19, No. 1 11 corporate social responsibility. Akdoğan et al. (2017) reviewed corporate social responsibility reporting in the Turkish banking industry between the years 2012-2014 to measure the relationship between CSR and corporate governance. They found that corporate governance level has significant impact on the level of CSR reporting in Turkish banking sector. Değer and Aydogan (2018) developed an econometric model measuring the impact of CSR on company financial performance and argue that companies with higher CSR score have higher ROA and Tobin’s Q performance. It can be argued that the results of the recent academic studies generally support the idea that CSR reports impacts positively company performances. As can be seen from the review of the literature in Turkey, the literature on CSR is newly developing area in Turkey and needs to be contributed with the new academic studies in the field as the number of Turkish companies publishing CSR reports has been increasing with the growing interest in CSR reporting among Turkish companies. This paper aims to contribute academic literature in Turkey by making a recent and thorough review of CSR reports of Turkish companies in terms of their contents as well as making a comparison with its neighboring countries in order to see the intra-regional variations in CSR reporting that is lacking in the current literature. Russia and Greece are selected as the peer companies for the regional analysis since both countries share more similarities in the region in terms of economic development level and social structures with Turkey as compared to the other countries in the adjacent region. 3. CSR and sustainable accounting application in Turkey 3.1 Important milestones in the development of sustainability and CSR in Turkey The concepts of sustainability and corporate social responsibility first came to focus of Turkish companies and academics in the late 1900’s and early 2000’s. Turkish government was in the leading role in bringing sustainability issues into the attention of public awareness and business environment through signing of various international treaties of the United Nations. Turkey signed UN Convention on Biodiversity in 1991, UN Convention to Combat Desertification in 1994 and UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2004. Turkey also signed Kyoto protocol in 2009 which aims to strengthen enforcement of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to fight against global warming. The period between 20032007 was an intense period in which national actions and policies being implemented. In 2004, Turkish National Sustainable Development Commission was gathered. National Action Plan on sustainability was prepared in Sustainability accounting and corporate social responsibility in Turkey and in its region 12 Vol. 19, No. 1 2005 in accordance with the terms of international treaties Turkey has signed. In this period Turkey has also prepared the first EU Integrated Environmental Adaption Strategy and started to become an active member of European Environment Agency. In order to foster sustainable development and increase awareness in the business about sustainable development and corporate social responsibility, the Business Council for Sustainable Development Turkey (BCSD Turkey) was founded in 2004 under the leadership of 13 private sector entities. BCSD Turkey is the local network and partner of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in Turkey, and it is in a strong cooperation with its parent organization. The Council shares knowledge on sustainability with its members and stakeholders through the activities of its working groups. Currently BCSD Turkey has 58 member companies from 19 different sectors composing one third of Turkey’s Gross National Product (GNP). In line with UN sustainability goals, BCSD Turkey has continuing its activities in four activity areas as 1Transition to Low Carbon Economy and Efficiency 2Sustainable Agriculture and Access to Food 3Sustainable Industry and Circular Economy 4Social Inclusion One of the most prominent steps in Turkey in the field of sustainability in general and corporate social responsibility in particular is the introduction of the Sustainability Index in Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) i . BIST Sustainability Index was first initiated in 4.11.2014 (XUSRD) aiming to evaluate use of economic, social, environmental factors and corporate governance principles by the companies and to make investors aware of these companies. In 2014, XUSRD Index was covering 30 companies in ISE-30 Index in which for each company daily price and return calculations are launched. Starting value of the XUSRD Index was accepted as closing price of ISE-30 Index as of 3.11.2014 that was 98.020,09. Maximum percentage is restricted with 15% for one share. Staring from 2018, the coverage of XUSRD Index was extended to 50 companies in ISE-50 Index. Also, companies in ISE-100 Index are voluntarily allowed be included in XUSRD Index. NovemberOctober period is defined as the yearly index period ii . The companies in the XUSRD Index are evaluated in terms of international sustainability criteria and their adherence to environmental, corporate social responsibility and corporate governance principles by Ethical Investment Research Services Limited (EIRIS). EIRIS use only publicly available information in its evaluations. The evaluation of EIRIS is made in three steps. In the first step, as of mid-year (June 30th), EIRIS prepares a company profile for each company quoted in Istanbul Stock Exchange Index (ISE) based on publicly available information iii on policies and activities of these companies with regards to environment, biodiversity, climate change, structure of board of directors, human rights, fight against bribery. Then, Accounting and Management Information Systems Vol. 19, No. 1 19 The biggest activity area for Turkish companies is characterized by investing in educational facilities and supporting women and disabled people in society. Education is considered by almost all Turkish companies analyzed as indispensable element of corporate social responsibility. Mainly the conglomerates and their affiliated companies like Zorlu Holding, Akbank, Şişecam, Turkcell take the leading role in educational support activities. Zorlu Holding states their motto as “constructing roofs for young people” in giving support to education of young people (Zorlu Holding Sustainability Report, 2016). The other focused area for CSR is supporting innovation especially among younger generation. Many companies undertake innovation support activities similar to “The CaseCampus Program” of Akbank which is a joint venture with Endeavor Turkey attended by young people from all parts of Turkey dreaming of starting their own business (Akbank Sustainability Report, 2016). Apart from education and innovation, Turkish companies initiate various CSR activities to support women in society and women empowerment projects. Stronger Young Women project of retail group Boyner aims to promote the continuing education of young female high school graduates, age 18-24, who grew up in orphanages and are exposed to social and economic discrimination. The project teaches them how to be ready for the business market by developing their skills and personal development (Boyner Sustainability Report, 2016). Similar To Boyner, Doguş Oto is the other company promoting the women empowering initiatives as stated in their reports: “we are striving to create exemplary opportunities for women’s employment in the business world by updating our human resources policy, increasing women’s participation in the business world, becoming a company preferred by women employees, and bringing different perspectives to our organization.” (Doğuş Oto Sustainability Report, 2016) CSR projects aiming to support family and elderly people in society are least focused areas in Turkey since family and patriarchal ties are still very strong in Turkey as a traditional and family-oriented society. Traditional structure of Turkish society also defines intensity of CSR activities. Even though CSR is a newly developed concept in Turkey which is imported from developed countries of the west, the number and magnitude of CSR projects in Turkish companies are high as compared to the number and magnitude of CSR projects in Russia and Greece. It can be said that existence of a traditional philanthropic culture in Turkish society intensifies CSR activity in Turkey. CSR activities in Russia concentrate on energy saving and environmental protection projects which can be attributed to dominance of Russian economy by energy sector. As one of the biggest employer company in Russian Federation, Lukoil implements a big scale environmental and industrial safety program across Russian Federation. Sustainability accounting and corporate social responsibility in Turkey and in its region 20 Vol. 19, No. 1 The other important CSR activity areas in Russia are supporting family and society in general. Due to structure of Russian society, Russian companies prioritize CSR projects to support family in society and children’s foundations. Aeroflot initiates a support program for WW2 veterans which aims to give material aid to WW2 veterans in Russia. The same company also charity programs for children and disabled people in society (Aeroflot Sustainability Report, 2016). The Russian companies also put emphasis on implementing anti-corruption and corporate governance principles together with increasing workplace conditions and safety measures. Supporting cultural and sport activities are another focus area for Russian companies. Education and women are not considered as main CSR activity areas in Russia. Environmental projects constitute focus area for CSR activities in Greece. Unlike Russian companies, Greek companies invest in environmental projects mainly because of requirements of European Union regulations. Social aspect of CSR in Greece is limited with promoting employee development and workplace conditions. There are also CSR projects for supporting and sponsoring cultural activities, sports in society and helping children’s foundations. Similar to Russia, education and women empowerment does not considered as CSR activity area by Greek companies also. The analysis of CSR activity areas indicates the variations in socio-economic structure of the selected countries. Turkey’s social structure as a patriarchal and predominantly Muslim populated society differentiates her CSR activity areas from the neighboring countries of Greece and Russia. While environmental projects and the projects aiming to promote place of family and elderly people in society are the main CSR activity areas in Greece and Russia, Turkish companies place less emphasis on social CSR activities like promoting family, protecting elderly people in society, supporting cultural events, sports and sponsoring activities. 6. Conclusion As Argodona and von Weltzien Hoivik (2009) state, corporate social responsibility represents a complex notion for corporate actors and there is no such thing as a onesize-fits-all CSR solution. The analysis of CSR activities in Turkey in comparison with the CSR activities in Russian Federation and Greece shows that there is no unique understanding of CSR among these countries. Socio-economic development levels and social structures of the countries shape the understanding of CSR. In their comprehensive studies that compares selected European clusters composed of 178 corporations from various European countries, Maon et al. (2017) puts that: “the notion of CSR as a contextualized concept, shaped by socio-political drivers, and contributes by bridging macro-level, socio-political facets of CSR with its meso-level, organizational implications.” Accounting and Management Information Systems Vol. 19, No. 1 21 CSR priority areas and activities in Turkey highlight socio-economic development level and social-religious structure of Turkish society which is also reflected in practical application of CSR projects implemented by Turkish companies. It is seen that Turkey’s strive for achieving economic development shapes whole understanding of CSR in Turkey. Turkish companies prefer to invest in CSR projects that will directly contribute to the economic development of the country. For this reason, supporting education of children, younger people and innovation are prioritized as CSR activity areas, while environmental projects and cultural activities remain as less focused areas. In addition to achieving economic development, projects which aims to promote place of women in society are the other prominent CSR activity area in Turkey due to social and religious structure of Turkish society. In this sense, CSR activity and priority areas can be seen as an indicator for social structure and socio-economic development level of any country. Ertuna and Tukel (2009) classify Turkey “a country in between traditional and global” in terms of CSR activities and sustainability. Country specific socio-economic structures of Russian Federation and Greece shape understanding of CSR in a different way. Environmental protection, enhancing workplace conditions and safety, implementing corporate governance principles, supporting family in society and sponsoring sport and cultural activities are seen main CSR priority areas in Russia Federation and Greece leaving education, innovation and women empowerment projects in an inferior place. 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FAB. 6 AEFES ANADOLU EFES 23 LOGO LOGO YAZILIM 40 TUPRS TUPRAS 7 ANELE ANEL ELEKTRIK 24 MGROS MIGROS TICARET 41 THYAO TURK HAVA YOLLARI 8 ARCLK ARCELIK 25 NETAS NETAS TELEKOM. 42 TTKOM TURK TELEKOM 9 ASELS ASELSAN 26 OTKAR OTOKAR 43 TTRAK TURK TRAKTOR 10 AYGAZ AYGAZ 27 PGSUS PEGASUS 44 TCELL TURKCELL 11 BRISA BRISA 28 PETKM PETKIM 45 ULKER ULKER BISKUVI 12 CIMSA CIMSA 29 POLHO POLISAN HOLDING 46 VAKBN VAKIFLAR BANKASI 13 CCOLA COCA COLA ICECEK 30 SAHOL SABANCI HOLDING 47 VESTL VESTEL 14 DOHOL DOGAN HOLDING 31 SKBNK SEKERBANK 48 VESBE VESTEL BEYAZ ESYA 15 DOAS DOGUS OTOMOTIV 32 SISE SISE CAM 49 YKBNK YAPI VE KREDI BANK. Accounting and Management Information Systems Vol. 19, No. 1 25 16 EREGL EREGLI DEMIR CELIK 33 SODA SODA SANAYII 50 ZOREN ZORLU ENERJI 17 FROTO FORD OTOSAN 34 HALKB T. HALK BANKASI Source: Istanbul Stock Exchange (www.borsaistanbul.com) Appendix 2. Coding 1Abdi İbrahim Medicine Sector: Healthcare Products Ongoing CSR Projects and Sustainability Activity Areas  Undertaking renovation project for a historical hospital  Various activities to increase social awareness on healthcare  Charity activities and donations for children  Undertaking waste management and recycling projects for environment  Projects to improve workforce satisfaction and workplace conditions for employees Strategic Goals and Aims expected from CSR Activities  Promoting brand reputation and overall value of company Reporting Frameworks  GRI G4 Reporting  UNGC Communication on Progress (COP) Reporting  Women Empowerment Principles (WEP) 2-Akbank Sector: Financial Services Ongoing CSR Projects and Sustainability Activity Areas  Projects to support entrepreneurship, innovation among young generation and family owned businesses  Educational and training activities to increase financial literacy in society  Organizing cultural activities to make art accessible for all segments of society  To support women empowerment projects Strategic Goals and Aims expected from CSR Activities  Achieve long-term sustainable return on equity of min.15-17% and create high value for all our stakeholders  To increase customer experience and satisfaction Sustainability accounting and corporate social responsibility in Turkey and in its region 26 Vol. 19, No. 1 Reporting Frameworks  GRI G4 Reporting  UNGC Communication on Progress (COP) Reporting  Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Reporting 3Akenerji Sector: Energy Ongoing CSR Projects and Sustainability Activity Areas  Involving in various environmental projects like water management, waste management, greenhouse gas monitoring, energy consumption management, CDP climate change management, tree planting activities  Investing in clean energy projects  Promoting occupational health and safety and employee trainings Strategic Goals and Aims expected from CSR Activities  Contributing company's overall success in Turkey Reporting Frameworks  Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Reporting: CDP Climate Change and Water Program Report (first energy company in Turkey making CDP reporting)  UNGC Communication on Progress Report  GRI G4 Reporting  Environmental Social Progress Report (internal) 4-Aksa Akrilik Sector: Textile and Apparel Production (Acrylic fiber producer) Ongoing CSR Projects and Sustainability Activity Areas  Supporting clear energy and green workplace projects  Increase workplace conditions for workers  Giving art and music trainings for elementary school students Strategic Goals and Aims expected from CSR Activities  To maintain market leadership position and directing the sector  To create value for stakeholders Reporting Frameworks  GRI G4 Reporting  UNGC Communication on Progress (COP) Reporting Accounting and Management Information Systems Vol. 19, No. 1 27 5-Aselsan Sector: Technology and Defense Ongoing CSR Projects and Sustainability Activity Areas  To support employee development with various activities and training opportunities  Projects to decrease carbon disclosure level and waste management Strategic Goals and Aims expected from CSR Activities  Fulfilling its commitments to its stakeholders and its customers  Increasing customer and market diversity  Generating high value in the long term  Increasing profit Reporting Frameworks  GRI G4 Reporting 6-Boyner Sector: Textile Retail Group Ongoing CSR Projects and Sustainability Activity Areas  Follow workplace improvement and employee development programs  To support clean energy, green workplace, waste management and carbon emission projects  Supply chain sustainability project  Projects for empowering women in society  Financial and material donations and philanthropic activities for children’s education and animals Strategic Goals and Aims expected from CSR Activities  To increase customer satisfaction Reporting Frameworks  GRI G4 Reporting  UNGC Communication on Progress (COP) Reporting 7-Çimsa Sector: Construction (cement) Ongoing CSR Projects and Sustainability Activity Areas  Adopted UN sustainable development goals  Projects to reduce carbon emission and energy efficiency  Promoting employee trainings and development  Supporting actively women empowerment projects  Supporting education of children and disabled children in society financially Sustainability accounting and corporate social responsibility in Turkey and in its region 28 Vol. 19, No. 1 Strategic Goals and Aims expected from CSR Activities  To maintain its competitive production power and continue its growth Reporting Frameworks  Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Reporting  GRI G4 Reporting 8-Doğuş Oto Sector: Automotive Ongoing CSR Projects and Sustainability Activity Areas  Engaging in environmental projects like energy saving, waste management, reducing CO2 emission level  Supporting women employment  Involving in community projects to increase public awareness of traffic safety and regulations Strategic Goals and Aims expected from CSR Activities  Consider sustainability as one of the main tools to improve economic performance and shareholders value Reporting Frameworks  GRI G4 Reporting 9-Erdemir Sector: Metal Production Ongoing CSR Projects and Sustainability Activity Areas  Aimed to adopt UN Development goals of 6clean water,7-accessible and clean energy,9industry innovation and infrastructure,12responsible consumption and production,13climate action and 15-terrestrial life.  Taking active role in civil society and governmental organizations in Turkey on environmental protection  Launched various CSR projects in three focused areas: occupational health and safety, biodiversity-environment and art  Engaging in environmental projects for waste management, water management, reduction of emissions, ecolabelling, energy management and biodiversity  Promoting corporate governance principles end ethical rules in the company Strategic Goals and Aims expected from CSR Activities  To contribute its global competitiveness and realizing company's general vision of being best in the world in its product segment