An Analysis of Public Interest Reporting

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine General Motors Corpora tions^ (GM) use of a specific social responsibility disclosure device, the General Motors Public Interest Report, to explain and defend its pro duction and marketing operations in South Africa from 1971 through 1986. In order to analyze GM's management of its position on South African investment, first we studied each GM report published during that period. Afterward, we evaluated GM's discussions in light of share-holder, government and activist pressures for GM to defend and/ or change its policies toward South Africa. Our longitudinal analysis provides new information about the dynamic nature of a firm's social strategy and about the use of a disclosure mechanism that is supplemental to annual reports. Thus, our study ad vances the stream of social performance research concerned with corporate social responsiveness (Wood, 1991). The remainder of our paper is organized as follows. First, we discuss society's changing expectations of business during the 1970s and activist groups' confrontations with U.S. multinational corporations over foreign human rights issues. Appealing to prior research, we then dis cuss the concept of social responsiveness. Next, apartheid in South Africa as a social responsibility issue is discussed. In presenting a detailed account of the content of General Motors Public Interest Reports from 1971 through 1987 concerning the corporation's South African business practices and policies, we evaluate GM's dis closure trends and present some overall conclusions.