CSR and social marketing as enablers of recovery after the global recession: the Turkish banking industry

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a relatively new concept in Turkey. Leading companies including banks stress socially responsible activities in their marketing communications. The recent economic crisis put banks into the center stage again. Turkey was one of the few countries that emerged from the economic downturn relatively quickly. In the initial stages of the crisis, banks faced some criticism for protecting their self-interest more and not acting for the benefit of the society. Later, these criticisms got weaker and less frequent. This chapter examines the behavior of banks during the crisis with respect to CSR and social marketing. Particularly, the chapter analyzes how the banks behaved during the crisis and how they supported small and medium scale enterprises and local communities through CSR strategies, as well as how they utilized CSR efforts as a marketing tool. In addition, the outcome of these strategies is discussed.