Do the right thing- A paradox theory approach to corporate sustainability strategies

Abstract

Through a never-before-seen momentum, the concept of corporate sustainability has become a considerable part of the corporate world. In the past couple of years, more and more multinational corporations have tried to develop and integrate a sustainability strategy encompassing environmental-, social and economic aspects within their organisations, often with a mainstream, for-profit strategy. Researchers and practitioners have approached the inherent tensions between sustainability objectives and profit maximisation with strategies that aim to align, compromise and balance the objectives, seemingly failing to grasp the inherent paradoxical tensions that exist continuously and constantly between them. This thesis aims to explore the tensions that arise when a multinational pharmaceutical company tries to integrate sustainability objectives into their traditional, for-profit approach to organising. By conducting a case study and using a paradox approach, we can identify tensions between contradictory objectives and understand how the case company responds. The empirical data suggest that the case company, due to an influx of stakeholders –and structural change– created an environment where the organisation had to deal with salient paradoxes of performing and subsequently paradoxes of organising. The primary response by the case company was the use of the set phrase ‘doing the right thing’. While it might initially have proven successful in justifying and legitimising particular behaviour and pushing responsibility further down in the organisation, it did little to accept –and embrace– the underlying salient tensions. Our study also complements previous research by exploring and discussing the potential relationship between paradoxes of performing and organising.