Exploring Corporate Social Responsibility in Swedish Clothing Retail Sector- A Sense-making Approach

Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a voluntary approach for businesses to assume extended responsibilities. Companies are required by various stakeholders to account for the environmental and social consequence of their activities. Stakeholder driven pressure are an extrinsic driver of CSR. Many empirical studies of CSR have focused on extrinsic drivers, but few studies focus on intrinsic drivers of CSR. In this study, the focus is placed on the intrinsic driver of a company’s CSR strategy and activities. Applying a CSR sense-making process model provided by Basu and Palazzo (2008), this study will explore the mindset of a company, so that a profile of CSR characteristic would be created. We will then be able to understand why a company response to external stakeholder expectation as the way it does. In this paper, a case study is carried out within the Swedish clothing retail sector. Three case companies, namely Hennes&Mauritz, Mini Rodini and Houdini sportswear are chosen due to their excellence in CSR actions. The study aims to find out the intrinsic logic behind the Swedish clothing retail companies’ CSR strategies and actions. The similarities and differences of the case companies are compared. Further implications of how to effectively carry out CSR are given to other retailers in the same sector.