Mbirigenda, ShukraniMsoka, Colman T.2016-09-212016-09-212015Mbirigenda, S.K. and Msoka, C.T., Community development through corporate social responsibility: some issues from selected companies in Tanzania.http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/4230Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is said to be of mutual benefit for both corporations and the local communities. However, local communities in Tanzania are either reluctant to cooperate or outright reject CSR programs. This study interrogated the CSR management systems that are in place in Tanzania to see whether they provide opportunities for the development of local communities or challenge it, and if these management systems have relationship to reception or rejection of the CSR projects. The study was purely qualitative, that used interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs) and observations to understand the relationship between firms and communities, how the two relate and co-exist and how that relationship could be improved by CSR. The study found that, among other things, there are no common CSR management systems put in place by companies in Tanzania, there is no common definition of CSR, and communities are involved only at the later stage of implementation and not in the initial decision making of CSR formulation process. The study also revealed that CSR offers an opportunity to be used for community development but it also partly tends to make local communities dependent on the corporations. The study thus concluded that there is a clear link between lack of community involvement and CSR project acceptance or rejection by local communities. The study thus recommends the following: companies should share power to define CSR, as CSR offers opportunity for community development if communities are involved; there should be state mechanism to regulate funds used on CSR by companies and consider this fund as cost rather than profit; effort should be made to avoid CSR dependence for community development by Local Government Authority (LGA) collecting taxes instead of waiting on the good will of the companies in their areas. Lastly the study recommends that countries such as those of SADEC or EAC should come together to form CSR policies so as to have common definition and also gain power to enforce regulations on companies.enCSRLocal communityDevelopmentInvolvementCSR receptionCSR rejectionJournal Article, Peer Reviewed