On 23 December 2004, the Director of the Foundation signed a research agreement with Professor Juan Luis Martínez whose basic purpose was to analyse the impact of social action on the strengthening of relations between companies and their stakeholders and the identification and validation of indicators that measure the effective contribution of value to the company derived from this action, with the aim of improving the implementation of singular initiatives, monitoring them and extending them to other environments and companies. In other words, the project, delivered on 21 March 2006, offers an inventory of the knowledge generated to date in this field, and its publication in 2007 in the Foundation's Economy and Business Collection aims to disseminate and apply it.
This research, in which Professor Martínez was assisted by Ana Agüero and María Carbonell, analyses the social projects that companies carry out for the benefit of the community and which, as a result, have a direct influence on society and an indirect influence on employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders. In some of the cases described, social action serves to improve corporate image. In others, to develop new skills among employees or to increase brand awareness and customer loyalty.
Such actions are included within the broad framework of Corporate Responsibility, which, in addition to including initiatives for involvement with the community where the company conducts its business, contemplates other realities, which go beyond the proposed study, such as internal employee training or environmental assessment.
The content of this research materialised in the book "Steakholders and corporate social action" published in 2006.
