Browsing CBS Center for Corporate Social Responsibility (CBSCSR) by Title
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Vallentin, Steen; Murillo, David (, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Modern governmental approaches to CSR (corporate social responsibility) have two distinguishing traits: they tend to define competitiveness as their primary concern and to make use of liberal and indirect means of steering. Contributing to a political understanding of CSR and focusing empirically on developments within the EU, this paper approaches CSR governance in general and competitiveness-driven CSR governance in particular from the point of view of an analytics of governmentality – thus introducing governmentality studies to the field of CSR. The aim of the paper is first, conceptually, to make sense of the governmentality approach in terms of the practical brand of critique it embodies and its positioning vis-à-vis other comparable contributions to our understanding of the government of CSR. And second, analytically, to propose a framework for analyzing the governmentalities of CSR. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7908 Files in this item: 1
wp cbscsr 2009-4.pdf (213.7Kb) -
Advantages of strategic ambiguityMorsing, Mette; Langer, Roy (København, 2007)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In this paper we analyze the construction of corporate social responsibility in the business press as an act of strategic ambiguity. While corporate social responsibility (CSR) generally evokes positive associations in public opinion, this paper demonstrates that these associations are based on a broadly encompassing and ambiguous definition of CSR. Our empirical data shows how the business press in its discourse on CSR provides no clarity on the definition of CSR in terms of a coherent motive, a dominant stakeholder or a consistent issue, but rather maintains ambiguity and imprecision about the meaning and content of CSR. While ambiguity and imprecision may be seen as an act of uncertainty in a passing stage when a new phenomenon emerges and develops, our longitudinal data demonstrates how ambiguity is preserved during a ten year period in four different daily newspapers. Ambiguity is systematically maintained in the business press. We refer to this process as strategic ambiguity. The paper discusses the potential value and limitations of framing CSR in a state of strategic ambiguity in the context of the concurrent rethinking of the role of business in modern welfare societies. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7125 Files in this item: 1
wp-2007-001-csr.pdf (204.5Kb) -
Ney, Caroline Julie (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: As sustainable development practices expand among companies, innovation appears more and more as a required path to progress towards the integration of ecological concerns at the very heart of business activities. Ecodesign not only requires this integration but can also be a concrete tool for its implementation (Le Pochat, 2005). Our results show that while implementing ecodesign practices, companies mobilize existing competences, that they combine with new ones. These new competences originate from exploration-orientated external cooperations. This original combination of competences paves the way for an internal research, made mostly of exploitation but still including some exploration projects. Long-term continuous innovation (Verona, Ravasi, 2003) requires an appropriate balance between exploration and exploitation. The litterature refers to this balance as « ambidexterity ». The present paper provides evidence for a competence development process associated to the implementation of ecodesign. By combining contextual and network ambidexterity, this process promotes a continuous stream of innovation. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7118 Files in this item: 1
wp cbscsr 2008-4.pdf (605.8Kb) -
Thompson, Grahame (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Many formulations of contemporary globalization suggest that citizenship is being radically transformed by processes of transnationalism. And the business world is reacting to this sense of change by firms claiming to be ‘global corporate citizens’. But what exactly does global corporate citizenship mean and what are its implications? In this paper a preliminary response is made to these questions by situating corporate citizenship within the wider framework of constitutional debates about private economic law and the juridicalization of the international sphere more generally. The paper poses the issue of whether there is a quasi-constitutionalization of the international corporate sphere underway and the possible governance consequences of this process. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7379 Files in this item: 1
wp cbp 2008-50.pdf (136.0Kb) -
Hockerts, Kai; Wüstenhagen, Rolf (København, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper proposes a model of how incumbents and new entrants engage in sustainable entrepreneurship. We suggest that in the early stages of an industry’s sustainability transformation, new entrants (‘Emerging Davids’) are more likely than incumbents to pursue sustainability-related opportunities. Incumbents react to the activities of new entrants by engaging in corporate sustainable entrepreneurship activities. While these ‘Greening Goliaths’ are often less ambitious in their environmental and social goals, they may have a broader reach due to their established market presence. This paper analyses the interplay between ‘Greening Goliaths’ and ‘Emerging Davids’ and theorizes about how it is their compounded impact that promotes the sustainable transformation of industries. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7122 Files in this item: 1
wp cbscsr 2009-1.pdf (996.7Kb) -
Hockerts, Kai (København, 2007)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper draws on interviews with 12 investor relations directors. These were used to elicit the mental models respondents used when explaining their firms’ motivation to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Four dimensions of CSR-induced competitive advantages emerged: risk, efficiency, branding, and new markets. Respondents from firms with lower social performance drew on less differentiated and less balanced cognitive frameworks (focussing on risk and efficiency). Respondents from firms with higher social performance reported not only more links between CSR and competitiveness, their underlying cognitive models were also more balanced across the four dimensions. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7117 Files in this item: 1
wp cbscsr 2007-3.pdf (302.0Kb) -
Rahbek Pedersen, Esben (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to develop a model of how managers perceive the responsibilities of business towards society. The article is based on the survey responses of more than 1,000 managers in eight large international firms. It is concluded that the managerial perceptions of societal responsibilities differ in some respects from the mainstream models found in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics literature. The article is an output of RESPONSE: an EUand corporate-funded research project on managerial perceptions of CSR. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7126 Files in this item: 1
wp cbscsr 2008-1.pdf (650.6Kb) -
Casanova, Lourdes; Crone Jensen, Elisabeth; Sloan, Pamela; Gradillas, Maria; Hockerts, Kai (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This report summarizes selected findings of a three‐year research effort undertaken by INSEAD, Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Bocconi University, and the Leon Kosminski Academy. It is part of a larger European Commission‐funded study, entitled "RESPONSE”. This project has aimed at understanding how multinational firms see their responsibility towards society and how this is aligned (or not) with the expectations of their stakeholders. Preliminary findings were developed in a final report which was presented at a conference in autumn 2007 at INSEAD, Fontainebleau (please find link in the appendix). URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7120 Files in this item: 1
wp csr 2008-06.pdf (1.271Mb) -
Yokoyama, Keiko (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The growing practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has led to increasing research attention in the literature to the role of CSR strategy. CSR strategy is a concept for maximizing profits or benefits for both society and the company. Studies of CSR strategy during the 1990’s and the early 2000’s were mainly limited to examining the concept of CSR, and merely discussed the needs and importance of the strategic development of CSR. Recently, strategy researchers have proposed more specific CSR strategies by applying their knowledge of strategic management. This paper first summarizes these CSR strategy studies and then proposes an approach to CSR strategy from a new perspective. This paper also identifies issues that a company may face when implementing CSR and suggests approaches to CSR strategy to overcome these issues. To overcome the CSR issues, the paper discusses (1) a framework for recognizing the contribution that CSR activity makes to corporate performance, and (2) approaches to CSR strategy for resolving tradeoffs inherent to the CSR activity. This paper proposes that a company design its CSR activity so that it expands the company’s stakeholders, resources and capabilities. Secondly, because the impact of CSR activity occurs both through external factors, such as legitimacy and reputation, and through internal factors, such as implementation and learning, efforts to stimulate the processes are discussed. Lastly, based on the above considerations, the outcome of CSR, corporate performance and the resolution of tradeoffs inherent to CSR are further examined. This paper concludes by pointing out that, from the perspective of CSR strategy, it is most important for a company to implement CSR activity regarding it as a social business, based on a careful review of its core business. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7124 Files in this item: 1
wp csr 2008-05.pdf (276.4Kb) -
Roepstorff, Anne (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
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Hockerts, Kai (København, 2008)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Over the past decade product service systems (PSS) study has established itself as a research field. Most recently scholars have occupied themselves with the design and implementation of product service systems, which they posit help reduce environmental and economic inefficiencies. However, extant literature leaves open the question why such inefficiencies exist in the first place. This paper proposes opportunistic behaviour, bounded rationality, and asymmetric information as possible explanations for the existence of the inefficiencies discussed by PSS scholars. It continues by exploring five types of property rights and the role they can play in increasing eco-efficiency. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7123 Files in this item: 1
wp cbscsr 2008-2.pdf (423.6Kb) -
An Empirical InvestigationFrederiksen, Claus S. (Frederiksberg, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: This paper examines the relation between policies concerning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and philosophical moral theories. The objective is to determine which moral theories form the basis for CSR policies. Are they based on ethical egoism, libertarianism, utilitarianism or some kind of common-sense morality? To address this issue, I conducted an empirical investigation examining the relation between moral theories and CSR policies, in companies engaged in CSR. Based on the empirical data I collected, I start by suggesting some normative arguments used by the respondents. Secondly, I suggest that these moral arguments implicitly rely on some specific moral principles, which I characterise. Thirdly, on the basis of these moral principles, I suggest the moral theories upon which the CSR policies are built. Previous empirical studies examining the relation between philosophical moral theories and the ethical content of business activities have mainly concentrated on the ethical decision-making of managers. Some of the most prominent investigations in that regard propose that managers mainly act in accordance with utilitarian moral theory (Fritzsche and Becker, 1984; Premeaux and Mony, 1993; Premeaux, 2004). I conclude that CSR policies are not based on utilitarian thinking, but instead on some kind of common-sense morality. The ethical foundation of companies engaged in CSR thus does not mirror the ethical foundation of managers. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7822 Files in this item: 1
Working_paper_03_2009.pdf (395.6Kb) -
Theory and Practice of Stakeholder Engagement in ScandinaviaStrand, Robert; Freeman, R. Edward (Frederiksberg, 2012)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: In this article we clarify the historical roots of stakeholder theory to establish that a much larger role was played by Scandinavian thinkers in its development than is currently acknowledged. We show that important contributions to the stakeholder concept were being made by Eric Rhenman and his Scandinavian contemporaries in parallel to the contributions from the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in the early 1960s and thereafter and thus are not a “historical trail” as they are currently labeled. Therefore we offer a significant modification to the historical narrative as presented in Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach (Freeman, 1984). These important Scandinavian contributions include the first publication and description of the expression „stakeholder‟ in management literature accessible to scholars throughout the world and the introduction of the first stakeholder map to the management literature. We use this occasion to consider potential relationships between these early Scandinavian contributions to the stakeholder concept with current practices of well-known Scandinavian companies. Through this we contend the evidence suggests relationships worthy of further considerations. We conclude by endorsing the expression “Scandinavian cooperative advantage” through which we intend to provoke increased attention from beyond Scandinavia. Cooperation between companies and their stakeholders is increasingly recognized as necessary for the social and environmental sustainability of world and the long-term profitability of companies where we contend inspiration for such cooperation may be prosperously drawn from Scandinavia. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/8657 Files in this item: 1
Strand_Freeman_WP01-2012.pdf (1.319Mb) -
Vetterlein, Antje; Brown, Dana; Roemer-Mahler, Anne (København, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: An increasing number of firms are engaging in social and environmental initiatives beyond their core business activities. While much has been written on the question of why business should be spending resources on social and environmental causes, relatively few studies have systematically addressed the question of why companies actually do engage in such activities. A notable exception is literature on the ‘business case’ for corporate social responsibility, which argues that good social and environmental performance will positively affect a company’s financial results. Empirical evidence, however, has failed to prove this. Moreover, even if there is an economic rationale, it is not clear why some companies engage in social activities while others do not. And, why do many more companies today ‘see’ the business case than in the past? Our paper attempts to conceptualise the motives of companies to engage or not to engage in such activities. Drawing on theories from Management Studies, Sociology, Political Science and International Relations, we suggest modifying the notion of the business case by opening the black box of the corporation’s identity as a social actor. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7337 Files in this item: 1
wp cbp 2008-61.pdf (157.8Kb) -
Roseberry, Lynn (København, 2007)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to present a strategy for applying discourse analysis to the debate concerning the legal status of Corporate Social Responsibility ("CSR”). In the 1990s activists concerned with corporate involvement in activities that harm workers and the environment encouraged corporations to adopt voluntary initiatives, which have come to be known as CSR policies or corporate codes of conduct. Roughly ten years later NGOs like Christian Aid, which at first was a strong proponent of voluntary corporate codes of conduct, have begun calling for a greater emphasis on law and accountability mechanisms. Trade unions especially have expressed deep scepticism of the idea of CSR initiatives and the attendant industry that has grown up around them. The trade union movement criticises CSR initiatives for being a strategy to avoid regulation and trade unions. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7119 Files in this item: 1
wp cbscsr 2007-1.pdf (147.9Kb)
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Now showing items 3-17 of 17