CR & strategy

The integration of CSR into business strategy: an empirical analysis of Italian large firms
(Contri, Anna Maria)

Economic downturn and the language and action of corporate social responsibility
(Ellis, Louise & Bastin, Claire)

CSR in food supply chains: applying stakeholder dialogue to define the content and measures
(Forsman-Hugg, Sari & Katajajuuri, Juha-Matti & Pesonen, Inkeri & Mäkelä, Johanna & Järvelä, Katja)

Strategic Positioning with Corporate Environmental Responsibility: Context of the Swedish and Finnish Hospitality Industry
(Heikkurinen, Pasi)

Institutionalizing idealism: patterns in the adoption of corporate social responsibility practices
(Rieple, Alison & Gander, Jon & Haberberg, Adrian)

A value chain analysis of organic cotton production
(Rieple, Alison & Singh, Rajbir)

Seed industry responsibility to agrobiodiversity
(Schäfer, Astrid & Kleinsasser, Sabine & Hametner, Markus & Schubert, Uwe & Wächter, Petra)

Cultural Context of CSR: Comparative study of Danish and Chinese companies
(Toh, ImnLin, & Ma, Rufei & Supramaniam, Meera & Christensen, Per & Lehmann, Martin)

Corporate Social and Business Performance: Diverse meanings by variant academic fields
(Wimmer, Ágnes & Matolay, Réka)

Stakeholder-based CSR Implementation and Evaluation – Theoretical Framework for Participatory CSR Action Research
(Zwirner, Wilhelm)

The integration of CSR into business strategy: an empirical analysis of Italian large firms
(Contri, Anna Maria)

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyse to what extent Corporate Social Responsibility is integrated into the company organization and into its business strategy. Several recent theoretical contributes underline the need to integrate CSR into the company business to fully exploit the benefit of a responsible behaviour. The closer CSR activities are to the company core business, the more integrated CSR processes into the overall organizational structure, the higher will be the positive effect for both the company and the society. When this happens, it is possible to talk about “strategic CSR”. Starting from the literary review, the first phase of the research led to the identification of some proxies, which can be used to measure the level of integration of CSR both in the company organizational structures (existence of a dedicated Business Unit, structuring of the stakeholder engagement process, formal documentation about CSR, etc.) and in its strategy (well-defined CSR objectives, explicit reference to CSR into the company mission and vision, etc.).

The second phase consisted in a face-to-face interviews with the CSR managers of nine large companies belonging to different industries. The principal aim has been to verify the alignment between the integration of CSR into companies organizational structure and the real closeness of social and environmental initiatives to their business strategy. Since the research highlighted that, in same cases, such alignment did not exist, the last part of the analysis has been focused on identifying companies features that might explain the major or minor level of integration of CSR into the company organizational structures and strategy.

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Economic downturn and the language and action of corporate social responsibility
(Ellis, Louise & Bastin, Claire)

Abstract

In UK policy-making sustainable development is discussed in a corporate-centric manner with CSR is often being seen as an extension of sustainable development, indeed interchangeable with CSR. To a significant degree the agenda's of CSR and sustainable development have been confined to ones which are 'safe' for the main economic players. Within this context, this paper will examine whether the way corporations 'talk about' CSR has changed since the onset of the economic downtown and it will begin the discussion of whether this subsequently leads to a change in action and whether this will affect the direction and agenda of policy-making. In examining CSR in this context this paper will extend the debate around the link between CSR and corporate lobbying activity and it will also begin to investigate how robust CSR activity is when economic prosperity begins to be reversed. It will also illustrate how important it is to consider the discourse of CSR as well as corporate activity.

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CSR in food supply chains: applying stakeholder dialogue to define the content and measures
(Forsman-Hugg, Sari & Katajajuuri, Juha-Matti & Pesonen, Inkeri & Mäkelä, Johanna & Järvelä, Katja)

Abstract

From the business point of view corporate social responsibility (CSR) may enhance innovative potential and provide sources for sustainable competitive advantage or "triple win" potential. The objective of the research was to analyse and develop corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Finnish food supply chain and construct the content of CSR in cooperation with stakeholders. One specific research question was to what extent CSR issues and elements can be incorporated into the product level in terms of CSR criteria and measures.

The research project proceeded iteratively and built on several steps. The project combined several methods and approaches such as action research with participatory processing, stakeholder workshops, interviews of experts and company representatives, life cycle thinking and qualitative analysis of data based on interviews, stakeholder workshop outputs and other sources. Three case products (rye bread, broiler products and margarine) and their supply chains were chosen to concretise the goals and research questions of the project. The process had three main stages: 1) a detailed description of production chains especially from the CSR point of view 2) interactive stakeholder dialogues and 3) determination of content of CSR and construction of criteria and measures for CSR in the food chain.

The study resulted in seven supply chain CSR dimensions: environment, product safety, nutrition, occupational welfare, animal welfare, economic responsibility and local market presence. In addition, all these seven food chain CSR dimensions and communicating on them should include transparency and openness as key elements for both the production chain and the related information. The dimensions of CSR in the food chain were operationalised by means of the criteria and measures for CSR.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, food chain, stakeholders, indicators, dialogue

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Strategic Positioning with Corporate Environmental Responsibility: Context of the Swedish and Finnish Hospitality Industry
(Heikkurinen, Pasi)

ABSTRACT

For many firms, corporate responsibility is a strategic issue and a source of competitive position. This papers takes this strategic perspective to the phenomenon of corporate responsibility (CR) and aims to develop a model that illustrates how can a firm position itself with corporate responsibility, and in particular with environmental responsibility.

Using an instrumental case study approach, the model is applied to a Nordic hotel chain - Scandic, to understand the phenomenon of strategic CR through this case company.

Findings of the case study provide further evidence for the model, however also found reasons to impugn the importance of stakeholders. The model presents the concepts that connect competitive advantage to corporate responsibility, explains the presumed causal links between these concepts, and describes how the context of stakeholders affect the responsibility of firms. This paper offers a steady stepping stone for further research keen on understanding the process of strategic CR.

KEYWORDS: Strategic positioning, corporate responsibility, hospitality industry, stakeholder approach

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Institutionalizing idealism: patterns in the adoption of corporate social responsibility practices
(Rieple, Alison & Gander, Jon & Haberberg, Adrian)

Abstract

Our paper considers how the distinctive features of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices affect the pattern of their dissemination through a population of organizations. It presents a descriptive model of how the prevailing drivers for adoption of a CSR practice change over time. Existing explanations from fields such as evolutionary economics, institutional theory and innovation diffusion propose that in most cases, a practice is initiated for instrumental and technical reasons, imitated as its benefits become known and institutionalized through mimetic and coercive pressures. CSR practices are however more intricately embedded within a broader set of societal practices and debates, which interact with organizational concerns so as to alter the pattern of adoption. The initiators of CSR practices are, in contrast to other innovations, endogenously driven and the economic benefits of adoption may be unclear or even absent.

Later adopters take greater account than earlier ones of instrumental benefits, as these become more apparent. The locus of the decision thereby becomes increasingly exogenous to the firm. Our model postulates discrete stages through which a practice passes: isolated adoption, niche diffusion, widespread diffusion, coercive adoption, institutionalised. The predominant drivers for adopting or retaining the practice at each stage are: idealism, enlightened self-interest, legitimation, fear of resource penalties, societal normative pressures and organisational inertia.

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A value chain analysis of organic cotton production
(Rieple, Alison & Singh, Rajbir)

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of value additions during the different activities within the value chain of organic garment production in India. Organic cotton is cotton that is grown and harvested without the use of synthetic chemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers. The first international regulation on pesticides came into force in 1985 (Pretty and Hine, 2005) . In the following years a few 'organic pioneers' started to cultivate cotton as a rotational crop on certified organic farms, resulting in the birth of 'organic cotton' as we know it today (Ton, 2002). The late 1990s and early 2000s saw a huge development in the design, quality and range of organic clothes and the organic production infrastructure. Nowadays, stores sell a range of garments from non organic fabrics through garments made from organic cotton to fully certified garments. In this, the farming stage is not the only important one in the production of organic garments. A t-shirt made of organic cotton contains certified organic fibre, but certification may also be achieved elsewhere in the production chain. A fully-certified organic T-shirt has to adopt organic methods throughout the whole chain from cotton fields until it is finally sold in a store (Sanfillipo, 2007). Different levels of value are added at each stage of this chain. This paper deconstructs the various stages involved in the value chain of an organic cotton garment and compares it with the value chain of a conventional cotton garment. This paper identifies areas where companies can derive the maximum benefit in terms of economic gains from organic cotton.

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Seed industry responsibility to agrobiodiversity
(Kleinsasser, Sabine & Schäfer, Astrid & Hametner, Markus & Schubert, Uwe & Wächter, Petra)

The loss of agrobiodiversity (AB) has been identified as one of the major challenges for humankind by experts since crop genetic diversity is the basis for plant breeding and crop improvement. Today the major responsibility to provide sufficient and high quality seeds has gradually moved from farmers and SMEs to transnational seed corporations. Hence, the question arises how TNCs manage the assets which they control and stakeholders' ability to participate in AB management. In our paper we merge the topics of CSR and AB management, the special requirements of which include social aspects – especially stakeholders' access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) and to knowledge, know-how and technology – as well as environmental aspects, especially with regard to conservation of PGRFA. Following the notion that corporations in their CSR engagement should focus on their core business activities it is evident that measures to improve diversity in PGRFA in general are crucial to ensure long-term success for seed companies. Given the presumption that diversity in AB management improves diversity of PGRFA do companies recognize their responsibility to improve stakeholder participation?

In our empirical work we analyzed corporate self perception and NGO perception and want to present the outcomes of our document analysis in this paper. Though it is one of the most controversial topics in corporate and NGO discussion CSR engagement in AB management so far has hardly been subject to scientific discussion.

Keywords: diversity, agrobiodiversity management, plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, stakeholder participation, seed industry

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Cultural Context of CSR: Comparative study of Danish and Chinese companies
(Toh, ImnLin, & Ma, Rufei & Supramaniam, Meera & Christensen, Per & Lehmann, Martin)

Abstract

With an outset in the two perspectives of the nation-institutions (countries) and the interpretation of culture by business organizations, this paper reflects on whether or not cultural differences matter in business adoption of CSR strategies and if so, how this is reflected in the companies.

Based on the foundations of Hofstede's cultural studies (2000), Historical Institutionalism (e.g Thelen & Steinmo, 1992), Social Constructivism (e.g. Hannigan 2006) and Stakeholder (e.g. Carroll 2003) theories, comparative analyses were carried out in the contexts of China and Denmark respectively. Information on nation-institutions was sourced from literature reviews, whilst data on business organizations was sampled from their existing reports and by way of a questionnaire survey.

The analyses show that the influence of culture on CSR policies appears to be relevant however its impact and influence on the companies in each nation-institution is notably different. Globalization also has an influence, however the mechanism differs. The development of CSR waves and modes (Chappel & Moon, 2005) vary and can be related to the capacity building inherent in the nation-institutions.

Lastly, despite the variation in capacity building and CSR policies, we actually found that the performance in sustainability reporting were similar in China and Denmark.

Keywords: CSR, Culture, Globalization, Sustainability, Reporting

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Corporate Social and Business Performance: Diverse meanings by variant academic fields
(Wimmer, Ágnes & Matolay, Réka)

Research aim: As a result of an extensive exploratory study of the literature on performance measurement in and around Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability the paper aims at unfolding similarities and differences in understanding corporate social and business performance in variant academic fields. Do theorists and researchers coming from different academic domains such as business ethics and performance management speak and understand the very same language when Corporate Social Performance (CSP) is elaborated?

Research method: Twenty journals of three fields (i) CSR, sustainability and business ethics, (ii) management and business, (iii) performance measurement and accounting have been studies by a diverse set of pre-tested search terms. Screening of abstracts according to a set of variables (e.g. empirical-theoretical, conceptual background, central topic, area of CSR, sustainability, etc.) resulted in a literature typology. Preliminary findings: Interestingly, terms used often in CSR business context proved to be rare in academic context. Search term “triple bottom line”, e.g., has brought only very few articles into the light, mostly published by CSR-focused journals. Looking at performance terms, competitiveness is a topic being attractive not only in management, but also in CSR literature.

CSR and business ethics oriented journals approach performance issues from the most diverse angles. A significant difference between these journals and the other two sets is their normative style. On the other hand, these journals are the source of the most writings criticizing and questioning even the possibility and relevance of measuring CSP.

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Stakeholder-based CSR Implementation and Evaluation – Theoretical Framework for Participatory CSR Action Research
(Zwirner, Wilhelm)

This paper builds up a theoretical framework for integrated CSR implementation and evaluation as both endeavours show substantial limitations in company practices. Current means of CSR implementation (for example codes of conduct, CSR reporting, philanthropy, ethical leadership development or stakeholder dialogue) prove to address isolated and often short termed issues of the complex and context specific social construct called CSR. Additionally, evaluating CSR and impacts of CSR activities proves to be difficult due to the appraisive, complex and openly defined character of the construct.

In order to overcome those limitations of fragmented and low impact CSR implementation and to prepare the ground for a stakeholder-based evaluation, a participatory CSR action research approach is proposed in this paper. By expanding the central CSR concept of stakeholder management and dialogue to a form of participatory CSR action plan development, implementation and evaluation of companies with their stakeholders, the theoretical framework for a combine Stakeholder-based CSR implementation and evaluation is presented as the central output.

A literature review links the four theoretical concepts CSR, stakeholder management and dialogue, participatory action research and evaluation, as so far no theoretical framework for participatory action research applied in the context of CSR implementation and evaluation is available. It is concluded that through focusing on joint actions of companies and their stakeholders, defining, implementing and evaluating CSR activities, the resulting practical research method also addresses new challenges and needs for responsible leadership.

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