Corporate self-creation through reporting rhetoric

Abstract

This paper discusses how corporate actors are created and recreated through discourse. Although a significant amount of research has considered corporate discourse in depth, and an equally significant amount has discussed the myriad corporate harms throughout society, relatively little addresses how corporations themselves approach their own harms discursively. I consider corporate discourse as a creative force, specifically regarding how corporations recreate themselves in social responsibility reporting. This creative aspect is a vital component in understanding the corporate role in global society. This paper is situated within the area of business and human rights. I utilise examples drawn from the Communication of Progress (COP) reports of companies submitting to the UN Global Compact to illustrate the ways corporate self-creation can be achieved. This allows for analysis of corporate language presented in a relatively comparable format (i.e. that of the COPs). I emphasise the importance of discourse in the recreation of the significant corporate power seen in contemporary society; if one seeks to minimise corporate harm, an understanding of the way in which corporations talk about their own harm is a clear means of approaching the situation from within the existing discourse, rather than without.