The many faces of responsibility: Acceptability of the global pulp and paper industry in various societies

Abstract

Mikkila, M. 2006. The many faces of responsibility: Acceptability of the global pulp and paper industry in various societies. University of Joensuu, Faculty of Forestry. Business enterprises have always had to consider responsibility issues in their relations with the surrounding society, but the content of this responsibility has altered, as it inevitably reflects changes in the societal situation and debate with place and time. This thesis analyses the concept of responsibility within the Nordic-based pulp and paper industry empirically by quantitative and qualitative methods, employing the acceptability of operations as an indicator. The data were gathered at four mills of the case company located in four countries: China, Finland, Germany and Portugal, by interviewing internal and external stakeholders. The interview material provided a number of definitions of the acceptability of operations. The main elements of acceptability for the Chinese were loyalty, distribution of welfare and cultural diversity, while the Finnish stakeholders emphasised profitability, sustainability and communication, the Germans socioeconomics, the solid waste problem and global forest operations and the Portuguese case showed the importance of technical competitiveness, quality of the products and land use. The results showed that legal obligations set the minimum level of acceptable operations, but a wider notion of responsibility is needed, because local legislation is commonly inadequate. It is reasonable to adjust responsible operations according to local circumstances. The empirical study nevertheless indicated that global corporate responsibility is not only the sum of local issues arising in the various places of operation, as some responsibility elements are formed directly at the global level. Acceptability of operations indicated comprehensive responsibility in business. Thus the findings were integrated into a holistic responsibility model, which diverges from earlier definitions in considering both the internal and external responsibility of the organisation. This model supports the view that corporate governance and corporate responsibility will be combined in the future to form a comprehensive, responsible management approach. At its best, the model combines the objective of ethical business practices with efficient allocation of resources both in companies and in society at large.