Evaluation of corporate social responsibility projects of pharmaceutical companies operating in Turkey

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as companies voluntarily taking an active role with their own resources in solving social, economic and environmental problems of the society wherein they operate and contribute to increasing the level of social welfare. This research has been conducted in order to reveal the current situation of CSR practices in the pharmaceutical industry, which has strategic importance on a global scale and has high expectations to increase the quality of life by improving public health. In this study, a survey conducted on the pharmaceutical companies operating in Turkey that are members of IEIS, TISD and AIFD. 60 companies participated in the study. In this context, the findings were revealed by analyzing the collected data statistically, and initial hypotheses were tested. It was determined that 83.33% of the pharmaceutical companies participating in the study carried out CSR projects between 2009 and 2019, and there was no statistically significant difference in the number of CSR projects they carried out according to the type of their products in the market and whether the companies were domestic or multinational. It has been determined that there is a statistically significant difference in the number of CSR projects carried out by pharmaceutical companies by years. It has been detected that companies with a corporate communication department have more CSR projects. It has been understood that the most CSR projects carried out in the fields of philanthropy and health, whereas the least number of studies are in the field of sports. With this study, the overall situation of the CSR practices of pharmaceutical companies in Turkey was revealed. In addition, suggestions were made to raise awareness about CSR studies in the sector and disseminate good practice examples.