Corporate Social Responsibility: The Problem of Securing External Legitimacy in a Globalized World (original) (raw)
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Corporate Social Responsibility and the Globalization of Business Systems: The Case of Sweden
2008
Paper presented at the 8th EURAM conference, Ljubljana, Slovenia. May 14-17 2008. The globalization movement in recent decades has meant a rapid growth of trade, financial transactions and cross-country ownership of economic assets. In this paper, it is examined how the globalization of national business systems has influenced how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is framed. This is achieved through text analysis of CEO letters in major corporations in Sweden under a period of transformational change of the Swedish economy. The results show that the discourse about CSR has changed from a national and communitarian view of responsibility (a negotiated view of CSR) towards an international and individualistic view of responsibility (a self-regulating view of CSR). In the end of the paper it is concluded that this development deserves further scholarly attention. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Globalization, National business systems, Corporate annual reports, Text analysis, Sweden
2005
In: Ryan Verstegen, L. & J. M. Logsdon (eds.). IABS 2005 Proceedings. Sixteenth Annual Conference. Sonoma Valley, California. March 31-April 3, 2005. 160–165. This paper reports on comparative research on how textual representations of issues related to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in corporate annual reports from Sweden, Canada and the Netherlands have changed over time. The results show a substantial increase on a number of topics that can be linked to the general CSR- discourse in the 2001 sample in comparison to the 1991 and 1981 samples. The rise in the CSR-discourse appears to be related to a drop in other discourses related to issues of social responsibility regarding the social, economic and political development of a company’s native country.
2006
In recent years, the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have become more important than ever before, due to the non-proportional relation between the increase in power of companies and the level of their social responsibilities. Today, corporations appear to expand their accountability in social issues by internalizing such concerns into their enterprises in order to prevent potential crisis resulting in negative media debates. The aim of our thesis is analyze the role of CSR in large Swedish corporations. The qualitative and quantitative methods given by interviews and statistics analysis of survey data lead us to identify the influence of CSR departments within the organizations. The theoretical findings indicate that the influence of a department vary according to their power status, and the departmental power could be gained by having control over three determinants to the strategic contingencies theory; uncertainty, non-substitutability, and centrality. The empirical results point out that CSR departments have low level of influence on strategic decision-making. Even though CSR managers have the necessary expertise, awareness and determination to make changes in corporate behavior regarding social issues, still at CSR departments their influence continue being imperceptible. The CSR-movement today appears as a business answer to social conflicts and is in that sense similar to a marketing strategy. Nevertheless, it presents corporations as responsible and accountable to society in their new role as societies' rulers but the influence of CSR departments will remain the same unless there are more profound changes in the organizational perceptions and approaches towards social issues.
11.How do Multi-National Corporations CEOs perceive and communicate about Social Responsibility
This paper aims to investigate Multi-National Corporations (MNC) Chief Executives Officers (CEO) perception of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and their communication about it. As the key decision makers, CEOs have nowadays, a central role to play in implementing CSR. Thus, such investigation could be very useful for a better understanding of MNCs CSR approaches. A lexical analysis of one hundred and five executives letters from Sustainability and CSR reports revealed that CEOs evoke different CSR areas. As a matter of fact, they often focus on specific areas generally linked to their firm activity, particularly those which caused or may cause pressure from specific stakeholders. Besides, based on the investigation of linguistic features of the executives discourse, five categories of CEO discourses were identified. Nevertheless, the authors recognized that even such investigation could not give us a clear idea about the CEOs perception of CSR, because CEOs discourse is not spontaneous; it is rather stake-driven.
A Nordic Perspective of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Etikk i praksis - Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics, 2011
Det er med sorg vi har mottatt budskapet om at Harald Grimen har gått bort. Han har vaert medlem av redaksjonsrådet for Etikk i praksis fra vi startet, og har vaert en av tidsskriftets viktigste støtter. Haralds betydning ble blant annet demonstrert ved at han var en av foredragsholderne ved lanseringsseminaret vårt. Hans virke har vaert kjennetegnet av imponerende faglig kunnskap og refleksjon, kombinert med vennlighet og medmenneskelighet. Vi lyser fred over Harald Grimens minne.
Corporate Social Responsibility in a Corporate Governance Framework
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2007
This thesis purpose is to contribute to knowledge which could explain the driving forces behind Corporate Social Responsibility in corporate Sweden and their strategic impact from a management perspective. Methodology: The method used to archive this research is a qualitative interpretative study conducted by interviews. Theoretical perspectives: The thesis is based on descriptive theories of drivers for CSR, concepts of strategy and CSR and normative/instrumental theories suggesting a strategic approach to CSR and stakeholder management. Empirical foundations: The empirical study is based on interviews with Swedish business managers in a strategic board position as well as consultants working with CSR strategies, supported with internet information from companies' webpage. Conclusions: This study proposes that factors in the macro-environment are drivers behind the increased focus on business responsibility. Swedish business managers' rationales to adopt CSR were according to this research to fulfilling stakeholders' expectations. CSR has influenced businesses to meet the obligations but in some cases also to lift strategic opportunities.
Shareholder Influence on CSR: A Study of the Swedish Corporate Sector
This study explores shareholder influence on corporations with regards to corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is based on interviews with corporate representatives, investors and consultants. The study finds that that while corporations do not perceive socially and environmentally minded shareholders to have a significant influence on how corporations address CSR, these shareholders are deemed as a legitimate and important stakeholder. Corporations find that investors amplify general stakeholder pressure, and that they can function as a catalyst for CSR by adding legitimacy to the work of CSR professionals. The one area where shareholders stand out as having a concrete influence is with regards to corporate transparency on CSR.
How do Multi-National Corporations CEOs perceive and communicate about Social Responsibility
This paper aims to investigate Multi-National Corporations (MNC) Chief Executives Officers (CEO) perception of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and their communication about it. As the key decision makers, CEOs have nowadays, a central role to play in implementing CSR. Thus, such investigation could be very useful for a better understanding of MNCs CSR approaches. A lexical analysis of one hundred and five executives letters from Sustainability and CSR reports revealed that CEOs evoke different CSR areas. As a matter of fact, they often focus on specific areas generally linked to their firm activity, particularly those which caused or may cause pressure from specific stakeholders. Besides, based on the investigation of linguistic features of the executives discourse, five categories of CEO discourses were identified. Nevertheless, the authors recognized that even such investigation could not give us a clear idea about the CEOs perception of CSR, because CEOs discourse is not spontaneous; it is rather stake-driven.