Taking control when CSR is all at sea

Wilh. Wilhelmsen shipping group navigates a responsible course

‘‘We haven’t heard of 3BL but you can be sure that’s what we do’’

When senior executives, middle managers and staff employees of a global shipping

company and maritime industry group were questioned about corporate social

responsibility (CSR), the majority of them had never heard of the term. Neither had they

come across the term 3BL (triple bottom line) which refers to how a business carries out a

comprehensive assessment of environmental and social performance in addition to a

financial one.

That is not to say that the Wilh. Wilhelmsen group (WW), founded in Oslo in 1861 and now

with a global network of 14,000 employees in 72 countries, does not care about or accept its

corporate social responsibility. Quite the reverse. In addition to conducting its business in

accordance with international and national regulations which govern its operations, it

pursues sustainable development in several areas, both with its joint-venture partners and

alone. The group’s social responsibility encompasses environmental issues, involvement in

local communities through collaboration agreements with voluntary organizations, ethics

and business morals as well as employee and organizational development. It has many

social initiatives, both ongoing and in response to crises internationally.

An example is the school the company built in Indonesia following the 2004 tsunami. One

employee, when asked why, said: ‘‘People are suffering. It’s very easy. And we’re operating

in and out of these places and we’re getting hurt by what we see. We have the means to help

so why shouldn’t we help?’’

What the employees appeared to be saying was: ‘‘Call it what you like, CSR, 3BL, corporate

stewardship, or corporate citizenship, it’s just part of our everyday work. It’s how we

operate.’’ One noted: ‘‘Indirectly I think we have practiced triple bottom line for many, many

years.’’ Another said care for others and the environment was ‘‘in our spines’’ but they did not

care much for boasting about it. Social responsibility was a tradition initiated by the

Wilhelmsen family generations back and sustained by the present majority owner, Wilhelm

Wilhelmsen. What began as a caring attitude towards employees and retirees, had spread to

embrace additional values such as sustainability and care for the environment globally.

A lack of common understanding of CSR leadership

So, while there was agreement that a lot of CSR activity was the norm atWW, a challenge was

also seen around the need for more communication about CSR efforts. Indeed, a new VP

Communications was hired with this as one of her key challenges.

As part of a larger research project on European-based companies practicing CSR, Hargett

and Williams (2009) studied the WW group to identify how leaders define the concepts of

DOI 10.1108/02580540910961262 VOL. 25 NO. 7 2009, pp. 11-13, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 0258-0543 j STRATEGIC DIRECTION j PAGE 11

sustainability and how they develop and implement strategies, practices and policies

addressing sustainability, in addition to identifying the developmental experiences of these

leaders that may have led to a focus on CSR. A lack of common understanding of CSR

leadership was one factor which prompted WW to get involved in the study.

The intent was to determine the level and form of understanding of the organization’s

strategy and practices related to CSR and collect data on the perspectives and experiences

of the managers and other employees in enacting care for the environment and for social

issues, while also focusing on maintaining a positive financial bottom line.

At WW, although their involvement in so many projects that fall into the definition of CSR was

certainly something to be proud of, it was also an issue of concern that the activities were

diverse and it was not clear at headquarters that resources were being focused in the best

ways possible. The desire was to get managers all over the world to focus on the same

targeted areas for CSR. Given their reputation for philanthropic giving, WW was often the

recipient of more and more varied requests for donations than they could effectively

process.

Future funding may focus on marine science or maritime issues

The external pressure for funding of all kinds of worthy CSR initiatives was causing WW to

feel the need for a centralized strategy and plan for what to fund or support with the time and

energy of staff. During the course of the present research a committee was formed and

there’s a plan for a future where the main focus of support might be, naturally enough, on

issues and groups relating to the sea. For example, funding or providing staff support for

local educational programs on marine science or maritime environmental issues.

The authors concede that they did not learn much about how individuals came to value CSR,

although clearly many did. For the most part, people saw protecting the environment and

taking care of people as natural activities, both for ordinary citizens and corporate

organizations. Very few managers could recall specific events they felt resulted directly in

movement toward CSR, but rather believed this was an attitude they had always had as

Norwegians.

However, the study identified these challenges to CSR at the group:

B ability to control CSR activity globally, across the organization;

B outside pressure for funding CSR initiatives;

B communicating CSR efforts and activities;

B lack of common understanding of CSR leadership;

B finding appropriate ways to measure impact of CSR;

B aligning day-to-day decisions with both company values and local norms;

B dealing with single-focus stakeholders (e.g. NGOs);

B establishing consistent CSR accountability processes; and

B integrating traditional maritime culture with culture of innovation.

Like many other organizations, WW has been grappling with the issue of knowing what

impact their investments in social initiatives may have, and finding a way to assess or

‘‘ External pressure for funding of all kinds of worthy CSRinitiatives was causing WW to feel the need for a centralizedstrategy and plan for what to fund or support with the timeand energy of staff. ’’

PAGE 12 jSTRATEGIC DIRECTIONj VOL. 25 NO. 7 2009

quantify it. Measuring progress on environmental standards is something WW was more

used to, and for which they had well-established measures (e.g., regarding carbon

emissions from ships). What they were keenly aware of is that it is much harder to know,

particularly over the short term, how much good comes from how much effort and resource

in the social domain (e.g. employee programs, donations to educational programs).

Going forward, there was interest and energy for developing or finding appropriate ways to

measure the benefits of social initiatives that are as robust as the current environmental

measures, so as to build a business case (in addition to a moral case) for this aspect of 3BL.

Comment

This review is based on ‘‘Wilh. Wilhelmsen Shipping Company: moving from CSR tradition to

CSR leadership’’ by Tonya R. Hargett and Marcia F. Williams. As part of a larger CSR

research project on European-based companies practicing CSR, the authors explore the

depth and integration of CSR throughout the Wilh. Wilhelmsen Shipping Company, which

has its headquarters in Norway. The aim was to understand how the company defines CSR,

the developmental experiences of the leaders toward CSR, and to identify strategies,

policies and practices implemented to support CSR.

Keywords:

Corporate social

responsibility,

Leadership,

Economic sustainability

Reference

Hargett, T.R. and Williams, M.F. (2009), ‘‘Wilh. Wilhelmsen Shipping Company: moving from CSR

tradition to CSR leadership’’, Corporate Governance, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 73-82.

VOL. 25 NO. 7 2009 jSTRATEGIC DIRECTIONj PAGE 13

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