Developing a CSR Definition and Strategic Model from the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy Marissa Chantamas Abstract Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming more important in business practices since there is a growing demand for sustainability. However, to date the definition of CSR is still varied causing problems in its application. Therefore, it is the objective of this research to develop a CSR definition and framework for implementation. The Sufficiency Economy Philosophy proposed by His Majesty King Bhumibol of Thailand was incorporated into the study to develop a firm's strategy in dealing with its various stakeholders. This is because the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy focuses on the good values that will promote good within the community, which promotes a viewpoint in sustainability. This unique definition and resulting model is the first contribution of this research. The second contribution is the study of how firms can collaborate with the government in creating sustainable CSR practices. The third contribution of this paper is the wide cross section of companies studied including companies listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand to small and medium enterprises. In addition a case study was conducted to further refine the framework developed. The CSR framework developed in this study proposes three stages in the development of sustainable CSR. The first is the basic stage showing accountability for business operations with a focus on long-term planning. The second stage is the integration of CSR practices with strategy in realigning work process and maximizing utility of resources. The final stage is the best practice where innovation drives the development of new products and services setting a new direction for the firm. The Hi-Q Company case study adds the importance of the dimension of partnership with stakeholders such as the government in ensuring that the CSR initiative will be a sustainable one. M. Chantamas (*) Department of Marketing, Martin de Tours School of Management and Economics, Assumption University, Bangkok, Thailand Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 19 R. Schmidpeter et al. (eds.), International Dimensions of Sustainable Management, CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04819-8_2 1 Introduction The public expects businesses to be socially responsible and engage sustainable practices for the environment and the community. However, implementing such responsible practices still remains a challenge. As early as 1953, Bowen coined the term corporate social responsibility (CSR), which meant that firms had responsibilities to the community and society in addition to profit making. This view is further confirmed by Dahlsrud (2008). The author observed that businesses realized the importance of being responsible toward society, the environment, and its stake- holders. However, businesses needed an incentive to be socially responsible. Consequently in recent years CSR has come to be considered as part of the value creation for companies by providing long-term financial benefits (Bhattacharya and Sen 2009; Piercy and Lane 2009). It does so by creating meaningful delivery of relevant initiatives that resonate with the values of consumers (Bhattacharya and Sen 2009). According to Carroll and Shabana (2010) the original CSR definition had three core ideas manager as the public trustee, balancing the competing claims to the limited corporate resources, and corporate philanthropy, which is the business's effort in supporting good causes (Bhattacharya et al. 2009). This is similar to Kotler and Lee (2005) that defined CSR as "a commitment to improve community well- being through discretionary business practices and contributions of corporate resources." To date the most widely referenced definition of CSR was developed by Carroll (1979)"The social responsibility of the business encompasses, the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time." In this definition Carroll defined four domains of CSR as the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary or philanthropic activities. This definition has been used as the main framework for study by many academics. However Galbreath (2008) pointed out that many researchers attribute CSR activities as being strategic by simply fitting it into Carroll's definition of philanthropic activities. But just engaging in a philanthropic activity is not sufficient for the organization to realize the full benefits of CSR among the various stakeholders. Even Carroll revised the model for CSR removing the philanthropic activity dimension. Schwartz and Carroll (2003) proposed the threedomain model of corporate social responsibility that is in line with the initial four-part model. The main difference is the exclusion of philanthropic activities from the main model. Philanthropy is "subsumed" under the ethical and/or economic domains, which should be a better reflection of the possible differences in the motivations driving those activities. Consequently it is important to shift away from just defining CSR activities to definitions that support the development of strategy. To develop a strategic definition of CSR, its various dimensions from previous research are analyzed. A common thread among these works is the topic that CSR should address based on the interests of the stakeholders such as the society or community, environment, employees, and economic considerations. For instance, Dahlsrud (2006) identified the dimensions of CSR in previous studies including stakeholder dimension, social dimension, economic dimension, voluntariness dimension, and environmental dimension. Sen and Bhattacharya (2001) and Bhattacharya and Sen (2004) defined six areas in conducting CSR activities from a study of the Corporate Social Ratings Monitor. These six domains are listed as follows: 1. Community support such as the sponsorship of arts, health programs, or programs to help the disadvantaged groups 2. Promotion of diversity representing all groups regardless of sex, race, etc. 3. Employee support in terms of safety, job security, and benefits 4. Environmental protection and preservation 5. Extending the good practices to non-US-based operations such as labor practices 6. Product development to ensure safety and avoid controversial issues and antitrust dispute possibilities Over the years the focus of CSR research has shifted from an ethical orientation (Carroll and Shabana 2010) to a firm's performance orientation with emphasis on the macro-social level to organization level. From the previous studies, it can be observed that the ethical orientation may create goodwill toward the firm. However, it still does not address the major objective of business in generating profits. Vogel (2005) termed this change to a performance orientation as the "new world of CSR" wherein the CSR initiatives must be linked to the firm's financial success. According to Vogel (2005), support for such a stand can be found in many research works. Kurucz et al. (2008) explained that there are four means in which a firm may gain profit from engaging in CSR activities, namely, (1) cost and risk reduction, (2) developing competitive advantage, (3) creating reputation and legitimacy, and (4) attaining synergistic value. Supporting this view Berger, Cunningham, and Drumwright (2007) explained that CSR should be part of the day-to-day business agenda of the company. This can be applied in three types of models, namely, the social values-led model, business case model, and syncretic stewardship model. The social values-led model views that CSR initiatives are done for noneconomic reasons. The business case model means initiating CSR that has a direct link to the profit. The syncretic stewardship model is a more comprehensive model wherein the firm takes into consideration virtuous values while pursuing economic objectives. Thus it can be said that the syncretic stewardship model uses CSR as a management philosophy guiding the business practices. Galbreath (2008) proposed anchoring CSR in the six dimensions of strategy, namely, mission, competitive advantage, strategic issues, resources, markets, and customer needs. O'Riordan and Fairbrass (2014) developed a framework proposing a set of steps in the process for developing CSR strategies. These authors based their work around the core concept of CSR stakeholder engagement believing that this model could help to improve the accountability of business. This is done by integrat- ing their stakeholder network responsibilities (context) into business choices and calculations ultimately improving the way companies practice CSR as well as communication regarding the stakeholder engagement. However, it still is not sufficient to anchor CSR in strategy as described by Galbreath (2008). Porter and Kramer (2011) proposed the idea of creating shared value (CSV) as a new perspective from their earlier work studying how CSR activities can be linked to the firm's value chain in 2006. The authors reasoned that CSV makes "doing good" for society part of the profitability of the firm. It can be achieved by realigning the company's resources to innovate products or markets, rethinking the value chain, and enabling clusters. These authors explained that shared value is the key to the next wave of innovation and business growth. These dimensions are also found in the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. It is within this framework that this study would examine the business practice that takes into consideration the Sufficiency Economy principles of His Majesty the King of Thailand while engaging all the relevant stakeholders. As a consequence the first contribution of this study is to develop a CSR definition and model that uses the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy to develop a firm's strategy in dealing with its various stakeholders as Dahlsrud (2008) stated that it is important to develop guidelines for managing CSR within the context of business operations. Another contribution is the study of how firms can collaborate with the government in creating sustainable CSR practices. This is supported by the research conducted by Chapple and Moon (2005) explaining that CSR cannot be done solely by the firm. It is imperative to involve the network of the firm including the government. The third contribution of this paper is its comprehensiveness in conducting data from companies that range from top performers in terms of CSR listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand to small and medium enterprises. There are two phases of the study wherein the data from the first phase is used to identify the best practice to be studied for definition and model development. 2 The Sufficiency Economy The view of CSR as a management philosophy is a balanced alternative view in creating what Reidenbach and Robin (1991) call an "emergent ethical corporation." In Thailand, this interpretation is done based on the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy proposed by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej as a means to ensure that business and society coexist (Suwanraks 2000; Kantabutra 2007). The Sufficiency Economy Philosophy is distilled from the experiences of His Majesty throughout his reign. The emphasis is on staying on the "middle path" for the individual, family, and community. This is not a denial of globalization, but the critical element is a way to soften the blow from internal and external shocks to the economy. Research conducted by many academics primarily on the SMEs in Thailand lend support for the success of firms that practice the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy in their operations (Puntasen et al. 2003; Kantabutra 2005a, b; Nuttavuthisit 2005; Kusumavalee 2005). Kantabutra (2005a, b) proposed that firms may adopt these principles into corporate values that can be critical to the practice for corporate sustainability. These studies focus on the application of the three basic tenets of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy in business operations. Synthesizing Thai and Western studies on best business practices, Kantabutra (2007) defined the set of practices called Sufficiency Economy business practices as follows: 1. Adopt a long-term perspective to management and decision-making. 2. Genuinely value and continuously develop human resources. 3. Be honest and genuinely concerned with and accountable for a wide range of stakeholders, including the society, the environment, and future generations. 4. Nurture both incremental and radical innovation throughout the entire organization, including products and processes. 5. Utilize resources effectively and efficiently. 6. Adopt/develop effective, but not expensive technology. 7. Expand business because of its actual growth as opposed to a surge in market demand. 8. Carefully diversify products, markets, and investment portfolios to minimize risks. 9. Share knowledge to develop the market. According to Kantabutra (2007) the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy is the development of self-reinforcing management system that enhances the firm's ability to compete in the global market and sustain the success. Beyond the practices of transparency and responsibility to the society and environment, it is the prudent management of the business to reduce "people-hidden cost and the highest quality of products and services and bring about innovation not in products but throughout the entire organization." The key concept is keeping the business operations profitable and yet ethical. Rather the Sufficiency Economy Business Philosophy emphasis on knowl- edge, reasonableness, and self-immunity principle ensures an approach to business that should ensure operations would be sustainable and operated in the most effective and efficient manner with consideration made for all stakeholders and making an effort to maintain this good practice in the entire value chain (Kantabutra 2007; Puntasen et al. 2003). 3 Thai CSR CSR in Thailand is usually associated to charitable acts and volunteerism (Prayukvong and Olsen 2009), which is a fundamental Buddhist practice (Rajanakorn 2012). Thai CSR activities fall primarily in the domain of economic/ethical overall as defined by Schwartz and Carroll. In this domain of economic/ethical overlap, law is not the only bind on the corporate activity. Rather it is ethical and economic in nature simultaneously. Activities that fall within this category should already be compliant with the law because any illegal activity would by default be unethical (Schwartz and Carroll 2003). Succinct to say it's the adage "good ethics, good business." The companies that engage in such activities can be defined as the "emergent ethical" corporation, which is actively seeking a greater balance between profits and ethics as described by Reidenbach and Robin (1991). In line with the CSR dimensions discussed in the previous section, studies showed that Thai companies focused the theme of their activities based on their respective industries (Ratanajongkol et al. 2006). Rajanakorn (2012) explained that the manufacturing firms focused on the environmental theme while the products targeted at teens focused on sports and music, for instance. The Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) encourages the listed companies to have good governance practices consequently creating the Corporate Social Responsibility Institute (CSRI) to ensure registered companies adhere to the philosophy of benefiting community, society, and the environment while in the pursuit of profit. Based on a study supported by the Thailand Research Fund using qualitative data from the existing business activities, SET has come to define that there are two types of CSR. The first is the in-process type, which integrates CSR into every process and activity that is conducted by the firm to make a profit. The second is after-process type, which is how the firm chooses to use the profit to benefit society (Srisupaolarn 2013). The interpretation of CSR in Thailand became about doing good and attaining good governance practices. The Sufficiency Economy Philosophy was always evoked as the guiding principle for good practices in business. For instance, in 2006 the Securities Exchange of Thailand issued an attempt to align the concept of good governance with the principles of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy as follows: The principles of good corporate governance are in line with the philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy initiated by His Majesty the King to ensure sustainable development. The philosophy of Sufficiency Economy emphasizes equilibrium and flexibility together with careful, thorough and moral application of knowledge. These are all basic concepts of good corporate governance. As it is evident in the definition, this application of Sufficiency Economy Philosophy does not provide sufficient guidelines for developing a business strategy that has concerns for society's well-being along with the generation of profits. This is the major research problem that this study aims to address. 4 Research Methodology The study is a qualitative research collected from the side of the company, investors, and community. This is in line with Marshall (1996), which explained that qualitative research with the aim to explore complex human issues is "neither productive nor efficient" to use probabilistic sampling. As long as an acceptable interpretative framework can be established reaching a stage of thematic theoretical saturation, further interviews may be terminated. This method is used to determine the sample size for this research. The data collection for the first phase of the study is in the form of in-depth interview of company employees and management involved in developing CSR spanning a period of 2013-2014. The interview structure was developed to address CSR definition and practices based on the CSRI definition widely used in Thailand, the understanding of Sufficiency Economy Philosophy along with its subsequent application, and how it has contributed to the firm's profitability. There are a total of 45 companies' responses used in the analysis. Of this number 19 were companies registered in the Stock Exchange of Thailand, 11 multinational firms, 10 companies not registered in SET and SMEs, and 5 state enterprises. A convenience sampling method was used in selecting participating organizations since the selection into the sample depended on whether the companies were willing to give time for the interview. Some of companies interviewed are in the ranking top 20 in the Asian Sustainability Rating, which reflects the best practices of CSR by the company. 5 Research Findings Phase I There is no significant difference in the responses from the different types of organizations. Part of the reason for the CSR initiatives are driven by the requirement set by the Thai (CSR) created by the Thaipat Institute or "compulsory CSR," which is done in response to fulfilling a law or requirement by the market or government or the SET. As a result many CSR activities are relevant for the organization, for instance, manufacturing firms or organizations that directly involve the use of natural resources organize activities in caring for the environment, banks organize work-shops to train children to save, whereas service firms direct their efforts in promoting sports or music activities for a healthier society. This complies with the recommendation of authors such as Porter and Kramer (2006), Lantos (2002), and Mullen (1997) that companies should spend on philanthropy, sponsorships, and cause- related marketing that are related to their objectives and needs. The companies in the top 20 Asian Sustainability Rating are especially strong in developing activities that are not only relevant in their respective areas but also have a commitment to sustainability of the initiatives, good communication within the organization encouraging involvement, and instilling pride in operational-level staff. This is consistent with the previous report of CSR Asia Center at AIT (2010), which states that because these companies are so influential, their actions may have a direct impact on the economy, environment, and society as well as their capability in requiring their partners in the supply chain to adopt their values. Some companies that achieve the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) certification go a step further by empowering the employees to develop their own CSR initiatives. This serves to empower the employees making them more loyal to the firm. In addition this allows the firm to be more responsive to the demands of society or the community because employees base the development of CSR activities on their own needs, which are more likely to reflect the needs of the public. This is more effective than the traditional top-down method where the management develops the idea and the employees simply implement it. On the flip-side some registered firms despite being in SET also take the approach of just making donations to charities or some environmental preservation activity. However, upon in- depth probing, they might emphasize specific stakeholders such as their employees, but it is not defined as CSR because management thinks it is human resource development. For non-SETregistered firms, it is found that in these smaller companies, SMEs, some small multinational firms, and state enterprises, the CSR activities are more along the lines of donations in terms of money, class or, sports equipment or planting trees. This is in line with the findings reported in the studies of Rungsuk and Sirathanakulb (2013), Prayukvong and Olsen (2009), and Ratanajongkol et al. (2006). Analyzing the CSR activities based on the definition proposed by CSRI, it is found that more firms engage in after-process type of CSR. This might be due to the relative ease in implementation. The key to choosing the activities lies in the theme. In general companies prefer themes that support the environment or community/ social issues because they feel that it actually helps to contribute to make a better place for everyone as explained by Srisupaolarn (2013). In addition most firms view the act of going out for the volunteer activity a way for engaging the staff and a recreational activity. Only a few companies actually engage in the development of new products or services that are aimed to make a difference. These companies exhibit strong executive commitment to the CSR principles and usually put being socially responsible as part of their company mission. As a result it is not surprising that these companies are the ones that achieve the DJSI certification (Table 1). Based on the CSR practices of the companies interviewed, it can be summarized that CSR is primarily done in compliance to the legal requirements. However, it can be observed that firms realize that for CSR to be successfully implemented, it must be rooted in the best practices of the industry and fulfill business objectives. Also it is found that companies realize the value of CSR in recruitment and retention of employees. Companies use the CSR activities as a means of providing empower- ment and entertainment to the employees. In addition for the companies that have achieved DJSI certification, it is found that they make CSR a commitment, a part of the mission paving way for innovative business practices. As a consequence, this study proposes the definition of CSR as follows: CSR is a commitment to sustainability embedded in the needs of the industry, business, and community implemented by the company as a strategy to empower all stakeholders to transform business practices to create value for all parties involved. All the companies and state enterprises interviewed know of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. In a majority of the firms, the understanding is rather superficial. The most cited response is a long-term perspective, caring for the environment and using resources efficiently. There are some firms that engage in integrating the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy into their business strategy. They modify existing work processes and attempt to create value in their supply chain. Also it is found that a few companies have best practices that go beyond CSR application of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. These companies truly take the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy and integrate it into the future vision of the company. Consequently Table-2 summarizes how companies appear to use different practices of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy in their business practices. These different levels of performance can be applied in the development of the strategic CSR model. However, the major challenge of implementing the Sufficiency Economy Philos- ophy in CSR is the lack of concrete guidelines. There are companies that have best practices, but these cases have not been used to develop a means of implementation that can be adopted by other organizations. This leads to the second phase of the research. In line with the previous research conducted on Thai CSR, the case study method is used. The analysis is based on one firm considered to have best practice in the use of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy for strategic development. The goal is to create a model for using the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy as a strategy along with the formation of partnership with various stakeholders most important of which is the government sector. 6 Research Phase II As suggested by Bhattacharya et al. (2008) the relationships between stakeholders need to be examined. This will be particularly interesting in the firms that have made this CSR part of their strategy as suggested by Porter and Kramer (2006). Consequently this case study involves in-depth interview with the management, Ministry of Health officials, media, athletes sponsored by the company, employees, consumers, teachers, and students at the target schools. The researcher also followed the management to attend the CSR activities in order to observe the results. The firm chosen for best practice and model development is Hi-Q Co., Ltd. Selling readyto-eat food, canned mackerel, and tomato sauce, its positioning is "Good taste, Loads of benefits." Like most other companies, the CSR activities started by the firm supporting Thai athletes such as the Thai women's running team and BMX bicycle team. However, upon sponsoring these athletes, the company found that most of the Thailand's best-performing athletes had very small bodies, unlike foreign athletes where sports science has been implemented so the body built will be much larger. The company explored the idea and found that this was due to poor nutrition in the diet while these athletes were growing up contributed to their relatively small built since most of them came from rural areas. Being a company that relies on the fresh produce, Hi-Q Co., Ltd. has contract farming in the northeastern region of Thailand, where many of these athletes come from. So the company wanted to find ways to improve the nutrition for the children. But being a small company with a fraction of the budget of big registered companies, an effective use of the budget to maximize the benefit was necessary. The company then turned to the health consultants in the Ministry of Health. They identified a poorly publicized but quite important project the ministry was conducting rather ineffectively. The project entailed that schools had to improve their basic facilities in terms of cleanliness, provide food that includes the necessary nutritional value for children, teach them basic health information such as taking care of their teeth, and encourage parents to give children better food. When schools are deemed as successful in attaining these goals, they are given a diamond rating together with a budget for further development of the school. Many of the schools wanted this diamond rating but did not have the means to achieve all of the criteria set by the Ministry of Health. As a consequence Hi-Q Co., Ltd. took this opportunity to provide training to the schools. The reason is that as schools achieve this standard of excellence, all of the students and teachers including the community would receive the benefits. This is the start of the project wherein teachers from five selected schools are given intense training sponsored by the company. They go back to their schools to improve the standards, and when they receive the diamond rating, the company comes back to celebrate with them bringing athletes and celebrities, which is a fairly big deal in the rural areas. After running this CSR campaign for 6 consecutive years, Hi-Q Co., Ltd. made nutrition and quality development the main strategic focus of the company. As a consequence the company expanded their product lines to ready-to-eat meals that are not only tasty but focus on good nutritional value. The range also includes unpolished rice, which has very high nutritional value. 7 Discussion of the Findings Combining the findings from Phase I and Phase II, a strategic CSR model based on the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy has been developed. Businesses recognize that CSR is an obligation (compulsory CSR) or as part of the image creation for the firm. Thus they engage in a combination of the CSRI "in-process" and "after-process" CSR. Consequently the research found that companies prefer topics including environment or community/social issues because it has an impact on a broad audience. Therefore, in the basic stage is quite evident in most of the companies involved in the study. Adopting a long-term perspective and being accountable are things firms are familiar with as part of the operations. The challenge is in the remaining two stages of integration and best practice. Integration looks beyond long-term planning and accountability to developing new ways to achieve efficiency of resource allocation and seeking new market opportunities as a consequence of the CSR implementation. This is in line with the syncretic stewardship model proposed by Berger et al. (2007) wherein virtuous values are attained together with the achievement of business goals. This is the step that Hi-Q Co., Ltd. has attained. The company sought out the best means to make use of their limited CSR budget for the largest benefit by cooperating with the Ministry of Health to develop the nutrition and cleanliness for the schools close to their contract farms and factories. This is a true commitment to developing the human resource in the area in the long term. In addition the company has developed innovative products that will enable them to purchase more of the produce from the region. By making more readyto-eat food available, the company diversifies its risk from being dependent on tomato sauce and canned mackerel. Since tomato harvest is only seasonal, producing foods from different types of vegetables allows the farmers to be able to sell their crops to the company year-round, thus increasing their income. The concept of diversifying the crops in order to have produce yields continuously securing income flow is one of the well-known applications of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. On the side of the company, this means that they can target more young generation health-conscious customers who want to enjoy healthy local meals. Best practice is a stage where the company and the various stakeholders align their vision to create a new direction for the firm. At this point the firm is no longer operating solely by its own. There must be cooperation with stakeholders and other industry players to improve the know-how of the industry to better serve the public. For instance, the companies producing roof tiles with asbestos came together to discuss the future of non-asbestos alternatives and developed a timeline for changing the production even before the government reinforced the law banning asbestos roof tiles. This is seen in companies that achieve the DJSI including PTT, Thailand's major petrochemical company, and SCG, Thailand's leading construction material company. These two companies have developed new businesses as part of the implementation of CSR as a strategy. PTT has a biodegradable packaging company, while SCG has a line of paper products made from recycled paper. As Kotler et al. (2009) has noted that companies can no longer be in the same business in the next 5 years and expect to survive, these companies have shown that radical innovation is important for the long-term sustainability of the firm. This is the final proof that CSR done right is not a cost to the firm but a contribution to its profitability through enhancing the firm's competitive advantage. The Sufficiency Economy Philosophy is an important guide in conducting the lives and businesses of the people and businesses through perseverance, mindfulness of others, and generosity (Piboolsravut 2004). The CSR definition developed in this study is "CSR is the process of addressing the needs of society through the continuous improvement of operations by being mindful of the needs of all stakeholders throughout the value chain of the firm in order to develop a competitive advantage that will ensure the long-term sustainability of the firm and society." However, caution must be exercised in implementing CSR in Thailand. This is because Thai companies may not always publicize their CSR activities for the benefit of the company or products or services due to the Thai value of not wanting to flaunt good deeds performed. This is in line with the Thai saying "Pid Thong Lang Phra" meaning putting the gold leaf at the back of the Buddha image, where others cannot see and know except the person, who has done the deed (Srisupaolarn 2013). Even Hi-Q best practice CSR is not widely publicized. In a way this might make it difficult for other companies to see the virtue of doing good CSR preferring the easy option of simply making donations (Fig. 1). 8 Theoretical and Managerial Contribution O'Riordan and Fairbrass (2014) developed a framework to explain the steps in developing CSR strategies. The theoretical contribution of this research takes the direction further in order to use CSR as a corporate strategy. The resulting CSR definition is thus a strategic direction in the pursuit of profit through processes that integrate virtuous values for the sustainability of the business and society through the cooperation with all stakeholders in innovating new practices that will be beneficial to all. Managers can use this framework in implementing CSR with a lasting impact. CSR strategy implementation starts with the assessment and understanding the situation of each respective firm. Before CSR implementation the firm must first evaluate its resources and the requirements of the industry. At the most basic level of CSR implementation, the firm can exist in harmony with the community. As the firm has more resources or can rally the support of other members of its value chain, the contribution it has to society can increase, while the profitability Fig. 1 Strategic CSR model based on the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy of the CSR drive itself will start to contribute back to the firm. In addition to recognizing that the government may have good programs that aim to improve the livelihood of the people, cooperation could increase the effectiveness of CSR implementation. Thus, instead of viewing CSR as an activity driven by one company, it can be an initiative shared by a network of organizations working together. This should result in programs that truly have a lasting impact. This research defines CSR as a commitment to sustainability. It is the view of this research that CSR is no longer a voluntary action because consumers expect businesses to be responsible. Thailand is no stranger to how such consumer expectations can hurt businesses. The European Union's warning to curb illegal, under-regulated, and underreported fishing (IUU) has caused a major disruption to one of the country's main exports. In the future sustainability may become one means of non-tariff barriers for trade at the macro level, while at the micro level, this might lead to the boycott of individual brands that fail to recognize the importance of sustainability. 9 Research Limitations and Future Directions This research is exploratory in nature and there are still more avenues that can be explored. There are companies that have best practices, and they are willing to share their knowhow, which is consistent with the finding by Srisupaolarn (2013). 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1. What do you think about the concept of CSR applying the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy?
2. In your opinion what are the relationships between stakeholders especially those that may include customers in international markets?