Abstract
<p>Firms typically go through an evolutionary process in development of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs. This paper traces the development of CSR initiatives and the incorporation of sustainability into the corporate culture and business model of a large global firm in the electronics industry. The process at this firm involves several distinct stages and extends over a period of more than ten years. The organizational and managerial factors facilitating the broadening and deepening of CSR penetration and the institutional barriers encountered are discussed. The importance of fitting CSR initiatives to a company’s core competencies is evident at this firm where their most successful programs, in both a business and societal benefits sense, have used the firm’s networking expertise to provide communication services and training in both developing and developed countries. At its current stage of evolution, CSR at the firm has achieved penetration into most functional areas and is a decision criterion for many operational and strategic decisions. The firm is currently extending its sustainability efforts to its supply chain partners across the globe collaborating with them to improve their performance and build their capabilities in CSR. However, the expansion into the supply chain has not been without its hurdles. The company’s sustainability programs are discussed in the context of the theoretical and empirical literature on CSR. Implications for other firms undergoing a similar evolutionary process are highlighted. The next stage in this firm’s evolutionary process of expanding CSR into its global supply chains is discussed in the terms of its potential and challenges.</p>
Highlights
Since the 1980’s firms around the world have confronted an array of pressures to become “socially responsible”
The framework that is probably most relevant for this firm, because of its emphasis on the supply chain, is the Spence & Bourlakis (2009) approach. They propose a three stage model of firms moving from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to Corporate Social Watchdog (CSW) to Supply Chain Responsibility (SCR)
This MNE has a multi-layered and global supply chain allowing for the “multiplier effect” noted by Preuss (2005), and it seems appropriate for the company to emphasize this aspect of their CSR activities
Summary
Since the 1980’s firms around the world have confronted an array of pressures to become “socially responsible”. It must confront cultural issues in working with suppliers on product specifications, codes of conduct, and audits These are issues that the company is considering as it expands its CSR efforts in its global supply chain and will be discussed later in the paper. As firms gained more experience with quality methods such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Six Sigma, they began to realize that there were benefits over and above improving quality like increased productivity and lower costs, faster and cheaper new product development, greater employee involvement and motivation, and overall improved competitiveness and profitability It was a slow learning process for many firms and many never achieved success in implementing quality programs or lean methods (Mefford, 2010). The conclusion section will summarize the company’s CSR evolution and draw some lessons from it
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