Dr Lez Rayman-BacchusLondon Metropolitan University Business School

CSR ConferenceMoscow International Higher Business School (MIRBIS) 2011 Dec 6-7

Contents

Global Ambition

Dimensions of Corporate Responsibility Process Content Context

References

Global Ambition

Agreement in the abstractEU policy (Oct 2011) states that to fully meet their social responsibility, enterprises “should have in place a process to integrate social, environmental, ethical and human rights concerns into their business operations and core strategy in close collaboration with their stakeholders”.The aim is both to enhance positive impacts – for example through the innovation of new products and services that are beneficial to society and enterprises themselves – and to minimise and prevent negative impacts.

Developmental10 years earlier: “a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis.”

Global Ambition

Agreement in the abstractWorld Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Making Good Business Sense CSR is “…the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as the local community and society at large".

DevelopmentalAn emphasis on sustainability (meeting both present and future needs while protecting the environment)

Anatomy of Corporate Responsibility: Process Content ContextThe need to ‘unpack’ complex and contested concepts: Help analysis and understanding Articulate (dimensional) differences and interdependencies Aid assessment of organisation effectiveness (transparency,

accountability, performance against goals) Aid assessment of impact and setting goals Explore inherent contradictions and tensions (short-term

imperatives versus long-term necessities; prescription versus practice; ethics of entitlement; environmental ethics

Definitions of CSR identify process and content but not context and cannot articulate their differences and interdependencies

Process and Content directly affect performance, while Context moderates this relationship

Dimensions: Process

Responsible to whom? Should the business entity be used as a vehicle for

coordinating stakeholder interests, instead of maximizing shareholder (owner) returns?

Is there a social contract between firm and stakeholders?

Strategy Stakeholder management or stakeholder engagement? Deliberate, pre-emptive Emergent, responsive

Dimensions: Content

Responsible for what? Prioritising: Be profitable, operate legally, be ethical,

philanthropy

(Carroll, 1979) Triple bottom line (impacts): economic, social,

environment

Elkington, 1997; Freer Spreckley, 1981 Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) ‘folk, work, place’

Rubenstein, RJ, (1988), Founder of Triple Bottom Line Investing group

Dimensions: Context

A new management strategy Organization Purpose Industry Character Global Variation

Dimensions: Context

A new management strategy

To create business that has a positive impact on society

To have a positive impact on society while doing business

To minimise the negative impact on society while doing business

To claim of having a positive impact on society while doing business

Dimensions: Context

Organization PurposeMeaning and value of corporate responsibility contingent on: Ever-changing/competing organisational priorities that

trade off profitability and responsibility, e.g., financial survival, alternative growth strategies, market shifts and employee rights

A widening envelope of responsibility e.g., international supply chain

Industry characteristics CSR excites particular responses from particular industrial

sectors e.g., extractive industries versus financial services

Dimensions: Context

Globally: Variation in Socio-economic cultures

Governments’ social and economic policy priorities moderate justifications for, and anticipated benefits from, embracing CSR

Corporate attitudes to CSR (e.g., business case vs moral case) colour their approach

Examples Welfare state Harmonious society Regional competitive advantage Global justice and equity

References

Earhart RS Partiality of Responsibility: Ethics in Sustainability Consulting, (2011), Universiteit voor Humanistiek, Real Life Publishing

Elkington J (1997), Cannibals with Forks: the Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business

Freer Spreckley F, 1981 Social Audit - A Management Tool for Co-operative Working

Geddes P (1854-1932) ‘folk, work, place’

Gjølberg M (2010), Varieties of corporate social responsibility (CSR): CSR meets the “Nordic Model”, Regulation & Governance, 4(2) June: 203-229

Ketchen DJ, Thomas JB and McDaniel RR (1996) ‘Process, Content and Context: synergistic effects on organizational performance’, Journal of Management, 22: 231-257

Pettigrew A and Whipp R (1991), Managing Change for Competitive Success, Blackwell Publishing.

Rayman-Bacchus L (2009), Unpacking Corporate Responsibility, Working Paper, London Metropolitan University