The unpredictable CSR in a globalized world

Abstract

The Corporations role is changing and companies are expected to take more responsibility; it is not enough to gain economic benefits, they should also aim to achieve social and environmental benefits. An increased interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has lead to an enhanced focus on organizations acting morally correct. The focus is not in regards to if the corporations work with CSR, but how they do it. CSR is a well debated subject with no clear definition, which can contribute to the different approaches to CSR. There are many ways in which a company can involve itself in CSR activities, but not all of the corporations gain the desired result. It can result in short term benefits or long term benefits depending on how well CSR is integrated in the corporation. To manage CSR to that extent and to be able to integrate it, strategic CSR is needed. Also, to manage or make an internationalization process easier, this kind of strategic CSR is required as a base in collaboration with other actors such as stakeholder and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO´s). From the theoretical perspectives that is been given about CSR, multi stakeholder network, strategy and shared value, this thesis contributes to understanding not only how complex CSR might be, but also the opportunities that CSR can contribute to trough network. The network can be used in an internationalization process depending on how the companies use CSR strategically, and how “network focused” the organization tend to be. Our empirical study elucidates that in some cases a third part such as a NGO can be required to achieve legitimacy on a foreign market. Results have shown that CSR can be a key to enter closed markets such as corrupted countries or a bridge to overcome political and value clashes.