Corporative Social Responsibility (CSR) is analyzed in this study in the organizational environment of sugar cane mills in the state of São Paulo and which form the Brazilian agribusiness of sugar and ethanol. Following a qualitative research, the quantitative data was used to define objectives using the primary and secondary data approach; an exploratory study in the context of the sugar-ethanol mills. The goal was to establish a comparative analysis between the negative external aspects and the social actions to investigate whether the latter had a significant role. It was possible to identify the relation between image and CSR in the organizational scenario of sugar-ethanol mills highlighting the main social actions developed by the enterprises which have contributed to improving the image of the sugar-ethanol sector as an active agent in the sustainable development. It was verified that the focus of social actions are concentrated in areas related to environment and education. Those related to culture, sport, and health seemed to be not as important. The results show that the number of social actions is not, necessarily, related to the size of the companies researched.
Corporative social responsibility; Production process; Sugar cane mills; Social actions; Negative externalization
