Hanne Andersen.Pdf (5.804Mb)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Master thesis in the area of International Management Agder University College Advisor: Professor Andreas Falkenberg Corporate Social Responsibility - Building stronger stakeholder relationships through corporate social responsibility programs By Hanne Andersen Kristiansand, autumn 2008 This thesis was written as a part of the Master of International Management at Agder University College. The institution, the advisor or sensors are not responsible for the theories and methods that have been used, or the results and conclusions of this paper. 1 Abstract The success of a business in today’s market is not only driven by financial values, but also by the business’s behavior 1. The triple bottom line (TBL) is an expansion of the traditional reporting framework of accounting, where organizational and environmental issues are included. The TBL was first phrased by John Elkington in 1994. It has later been rephrased as the three P’s, profit, people and planet, which are meant to express the triple bottom line and the aim for sustainability 2. After reading an article about a tragic death-accident at one of Telenor’s production sites in Bangladesh, I was once again introduced to the term CSR. Because of the increased focus on this accident and similar incidents, the interest for Corporate Social Responsibility has grown. Social responsibility has in recent years received a lot of attention from many holds, the media, managers, individuals and from the society at large. CSR was first mentioned in the 1950s, but still it is a fairly new phenomenon and it is first in the recent years that the term has received increased attention. I therefore believe that it is necessary to thoroughly investigate the theories of social responsibility and other closely related theories in the thesis. It can be hard to explain the term CSR without looking at the similarities between this theory and the theories of Ethics and The Stakeholders Approach. In many ways it seems like Ethics and Stakeholder Theory are of the factors that make the foundation of CSR, and it is hard to mention one of the theories without touching at least one of the other two theories. Because of high global competition, businesses are forced to produce goods and services at a lowest possible price. To fulfill this demand in the market many business activities are outsourced to organizations worldwide. This way of doing business makes firms able to satisfy the consumer market on both price and quality. The downside to the global business making is the consequences of the increased production and transportation. Two of the issues involved are environmental damage because of global warming, and large companies that are ignoring human rights in under-developed countries because of the country’s lack of structure and restrictions. 1 Masteroppgave, CSR, Universitetet i Tromsø, 2007 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_bottom_line 2 Accidents like the death in Bangladesh help to put CSR on the agenda, and it also brings out other issues related to the business and choice of strategy. With this thesis, I wish to develop a better understanding of the term CSR and its background. Because of the increased tendency towards international transactions of goods and services, I will dig into the theory of Ethics and culture and look at how these two phenomena are related. Secondly, the different theories and views of Corporate Social Responsibility will be investigated during their developments from 1950 – 2008. Thirdly, I will look at the evolution of the Stakeholders Approach, from Friedman’s “shareholder-focus” to Freeman’s “stakeholder view”. With this thesis, I want to explore the connection between the three theories mentioned above. Based on this knowledge, there will be a thorough investigation of five Norwegian companies and their awareness of social responsibility and the different stakeholders. The research will be carried out by a qualitative case examination based on the company’s website, former interviews and other articles. 3 Acknowledgements This thesis is a result of many contributions. First of all, I would like to thank my partner, Kjetil who has been an amazing support for me through this whole writing process. With you around, the encouraging words, the smiles and the laughter are never far away. Thank you! Secondly, I would like to thank my parents, Ellen and Per for always believing in me and supporting me. Also, a great thank you to the rest of my large family as without you I would not be where I am today. Thank you! Large thanks to professor, Andreas Falkenberg. You have been a fantastic tutor and encourager in the writing of this thesis. Thank you for kind, clever and interesting knowledge of both life and literature. Without you, this process would never have been as interesting, educational and fun as it was. Thank you! Finally, I want to dedicate the thesis to my dear friend, Lisa, who passed away during this writing process. You will always be in my heart. 4 Table of content Figure list: ............................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 1: Phenomenon ......................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Research Questions ................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 2: Literature Review ................................................................................................................ 11 2.1 Cultural and Ethical Values .......................................................................................................... 11 2.1.1 What is Culture? ................................................................................................................... 11 2.1.2 What is Ethics? ..................................................................................................................... 13 2.1.3 The international value chain ............................................................................................... 15 2.1.4 Culture, Ethics and the Emergence of Corporate Social Responsibility ............................... 16 2.2 Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility Literature ........................................................ 17 2.2.1 What is Corporate Social Responsibility? ............................................................................. 18 2.2.2 The Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility ................................................................. 19 2.2.3 Corporate Social Responsibility in Norway .......................................................................... 20 2.2.4 Terminology – Corporate social responsibility and related themes .................................... 22 2.2.5 A Theoretical Overview: Corporate Social Responsibility .................................................... 24 2.2.6 Different Aspects of CSR Theories ........................................................................................ 25 2.2.7 The Case For and Against Corporate Social Responsibility .................................................. 26 2.2.8 From Social Responsibility to Strategic Competitive Advantage ......................................... 28 2.2.9 CSR and Financial Performance ............................................................................................ 29 BUSINESS STRATEGY & SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY..................................................................................... 30 FIGURE 9 (H USTED & ALLEN , 2001) .................................................................................................. 30 2.3 The Stakeholder View .................................................................................................................. 31 2.3.1 Introduction to Stakeholder Theory ..................................................................................... 31 2.3.2 What is Stakeholder Theory? ............................................................................................... 31 2.3.3 The Evolution of Stakeholder Theory ................................................................................... 33 2.3.4 Three Stakeholder Perspectives ........................................................................................... 33 2.3.5 The Stakeholder Debate: Friedman versus Freeman ........................................................... 35 Chapter 3: Research dimensions ........................................................................................................... 37 3.1 Corporate Social Responsibility in Relation to Different Stakeholders ....................................... 37 3.1.1 Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility ........................................................................ 40 Chapter 4: Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 42 4.1 Research design ........................................................................................................................... 42 4.2 From Theory to Reality ................................................................................................................ 46 5 4.3 Guide for Investigation ................................................................................................................ 47 Chapter 5: Case descriptions ................................................................................................................