corporate responsibility : process content context
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Dr Lez Rayman-Bacchus London Metropolitan University Business School CSR Conference Moscow International Higher Business School (MIRBIS) 2011 Dec 6-7. Corporate Responsibility : process content context. Contents. Global Ambition Dimensions of Corporate Responsibility Process Content - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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 abstract
EU 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 abstract
World 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, environmentElkington, 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