Analysis of the Main Corporate Social Responsibility Drivers and Barriers and Their Foreseeable Evolution—Evidence from Two Leading Multinationals: The Airbus and TASL Cases

Abstract

This article undertakes a comparative analysis of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) drivers and barriers in the European multinational Airbus and the Indian Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. (TASL), both in their current, as-is state, and in the desirable future, should-be state. These in-depth case studies are based on structured interviews, complemented with a survey. The research findings provide qualified, bounded support to the currently preponderant view among CSR scholars, regarding both the preeminent role of the internal (vs. external) drivers and the key importance of moral-driven (vs. profit-driven) drivers such as the values of the top management. The caveat here reflects that, contingent on cultural issues, individual companies might not have reached this state yet. Furthermore, these findings suggest that the current CSR situation could be characterized as contingent, transitional and convergent; the practical implications for the various CSR stakeholders of this characterization are discussed. The most salient trait, convergence, suggests the existence of a certain commonality in CSR’s foreseeable evolutionary path, even among disparate companies, converging on such aspects as the ever-increasing role of the value system and of the shared, internalized company culture, and the shift of CSR’s role from obligation to potential source of competitive advantage.