The purpose of this article is to analyze the social actions undertaken by Brazilian retail companies. The study is justified by the need to have an on-going assessment of actions of this nature, bearing in mind that over the last 15 years many retail companies have been developing many social initiatives. The empirical data were taken from the database of information recorded by the Centro de Excelência no Varejo, of the Fundação Getulio Vargas. In order to assess the data, an adaptation of the James Austin (2000) model was made. Analysis of the data was predominantly exploratory, and involved the descriptive analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. It was also made the cross analysis of the clusters generated with some of the variables. The results indicated a strong relationship between the social and economic value generated by the actions of companies and characteristics relating to their size, partnerships and the geographic spread of the actions.
Social and environmental responsibility; Social and environmental action; Retail companies; Economic value; Social and environmental value
