Global considerations in corporate social responsibility : case studies of three MNCs

It has become a trend among companies to actively work with corporate social responsibility issues since consumers and other stakeholders are supporting those companies who take their responsibility. The rather long history of corporate social responsibility that to some extent goes back to the 18th century together with today’s globalization, the growing corporate social responsibility trend, and the limited research within this area makes this study an important piece of the puzzle to understand corporate social responsibility in the 21st century. The purpose of this thesis was to gain a deeper understanding of the influence of global considerations on multinational companies’ corporate social responsibility. In order to reach this objective, research questions focusing on the content of multinational companies’ corporate social responsibility and the factors influencing multinational companies’ corporate social responsibility in foreign markets were developed. To be able to answer the stated research questions, three case studies of multinational companies were conducted. The collected data was analyzed through both within-case and cross-case analysis. The findings of this study show that global considerations are something that companies need to pay attention to. When multinational companies implement their corporate social responsibility in foreign markets, they are influenced by a number of factors. As a result of this it is difficult for them to work with corporate social responsibility completely standardized throughout the world. Depending on the country of operations it might be necessary to adapt the global corporate social responsibility to local/national factors. These factors mainly influence the corporate social responsibility locally/nationally and not globally. Factors that companies need to take into consideration in foreign markets are: outside influences, origins or ecological factors, norms, and global extensive guidelines.Validerat; 20101217 (root