No description available.

The aim of this PhD research project was to critically examine the self-reported socially-responsible activities of European full-service and low-fares airlines. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept that has been described using many terms and with varying definitions. Broadly, it is the recognition that businesses should voluntarily mitigate and manage their externalities. CSR has been touted by businesses and governments alike as a preferred alternative to regulation. This research looked at the self-reported CSR approaches of the European airline sector, which has historically been heavily regulated and is currently facing increasing pressures regarding its impacts on CSR- and sustainability-related concerns. Low cost carriers have been under particular scrutiny for their impacts, and therefore, this research compared the CSR approaches of the two dominant airline business models in Europe: low cost and full service models. The sample consisted of 21 full service and 13 low cost carriers with headquarters in Europe. Mixed qualitative methods were applied to 566 secondary documents (websites, press releases, annual reports, and standalone CSR reports) and 15 elite interviews with airline managers. A range of established CSR indicators were assessed, including: definitions, reported practices, motivations and justifications for CSR activities, and CSR management and monitoring. Much of what the airlines reported as their CSR was at odds with academic and governmental definitions; as a whole, they placed considerable emphasis on environmental issues and adhering to regulations. This study also found that the CSR practices were closely correlated with business practices and key sector issues – an understanding of CSR that is most compatible with stakeholder theory-based conceptualisations. Business models on their own were found to be an overly-simplistic explanation for the wide variances of practice that were found in the sample. Instead, four ‘profiles of responsibility’ were identified, which better captured the differences in practices.

In political philosophy, power and responsibility are known to be two sides of the same coin. Yet surprisingly, corporate political power has not been strongly featured in the long-standing debate surrounding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), despite the parallel debate on the influence of business in policy-making. The political dimension of CSR and its intrinsic relationship with Corporate Political Power (CPP) has been under-researched. This thesis adds to the CSR debate by investigating the processes and mechanisms by which CSR activities contribute to the power of the firm in the political arena, in the context of the British construction industry. Drawing on the literature on power, political activity and extended corporate citizenship, a conceptual model of the relationship between CSR and CPP was developed. The model was underpinned by insights from the Institutional Theory, the Resource Dependence Theory, and the Resource-Based View of the firm. Using a hybrid constructivist-realism epistemology and a processbased analysis, three exploratory case studies were carried out in construction companies operating in the UK. Data were collected through archival research and semi-structured interviews, and analysed by means of within and cross-case analyses. The results revealed that the political environment of the firm was analogous to a marketplace where companies traded political goods with policy-makers. CSR activities produced four political goods, namely public image, technical expertise, social capital and indebtedness, which were identified as the mechanisms by which CSR contributed to CPP. The impacts of CSR activities on CPP were three-fold: CSR strengthened the privileged structural position of companies; helped them gain easier access to policy-makers; and this privileged access gave companies more opportunities to influence regulatory outcomes. The key theoretical contribution of the thesis is a processual model that illustrates how CSR contributes to CPP. There are also implications for practice. CSR activities are velvet curtains that hide the operationalisation of political power. The social and political implications call for the attention of government officials who favour a neoliberal doctrine for the promotion of CSR to business.

Among the top Fortune 100 U.S. companies, 97% claim to be global business citizens, primarily based on self-evaluated qualitative criteria. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional survey design study was to develop a self-administered survey and apply it to calculate a composite index rating that assesses the maturity level a company has attained toward becoming a global business citizen. The theoretical framework underpinning the research was based on the theory of global business citizenship (GBC) and accompanying four-step implementation process. The GBC theory was utilized to develop the research survey consisting of 1 qualifying question and 22 Likert-type questions. The survey was administered to a qualified random sample of business executives in the United States with 172 usable responses received. These survey questions were then rationalized via exploratory factor analysis (EFA). EFA identified ten key questions with strong eigenvalues and grouped the interrelated items into three factors. Subsequently, the EFA-computed eigenvalues were used to develop a composite index formula. The key findings revealed that only three factors explained 70% of the variance and were named VALUE, IMPLEMENT, and LEARN, as proposed in the GBC theory itself. Questions related to the ANALY step of the GBC theory were not significant. Social change benefits include providing business leaders with a quantitative tool to help communicate to their stakeholders the steps they have achieved toward becoming a global business citizen.

<p>Det finns många teorier kring det sociala ansvar företag bör ta och en av dem är Corporate Citizenship. Terminologin inom detta område tycks tilltala företag och de säger sig gärna vara ”goda samhällsmedborgare”. Frågan är vad det betyder att vara en medborgare och vad detta i sin tur innebär för företagen.</p><p>Flera författare har ställt upp kriterier för vad ett företag bör uppfylla för att räknas som god samhällsmedborgare, men det saknas till stora delar empirisk forskning. Denna uppsats för fram en analysmodell bestående av fem karaktärsdrag en god företagsmedborgare bör inneha och applicerar detta på åtta företag. Slutsatsen är att inget av de undersökta företagen anses vara en god samhällsmedborgare och att endast ett av företagen är nära idealet.</p> / <p>Many theories exist regarding corporate social responsibility and one of them is Corporate Citizenship. The terminology in this field seems to appeal to corporations and they often refer to themselves as "good citizens". The question is what it means to be a citizen and what this implies for the corporations.</p><p>Several authors have presented criterias which a corporation should fulfill in order to be regarded as a good citizen, but empirical research is lacking. This study presents a model of analysis containing five characteristics a good corporate citizen should hold and applies this to eight corporations. The conclusion made in the study is that none of the corporations examined is considered a good citizen and that only one of the corporations comes close to the ideal.</p>

Bakgrund: Vi tycker oss kunna skönja en utveckling i Sverige där potentialen för företagens sociala ansvarstagande ökat till följd av att den traditionella trygghetsgaranten, staten, alltmer dragit sig tillbaka. Samtidigt konstaterar vi att begreppen som behandlar detta område ofta saknar konkreta förslag på vilka aktiviteter som är lämpliga för företag att ägna sig åt. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att beskriva statens roll och den allmänna opinionen i det svenska samhället vad avser förutsättningarna för företagens sociala ansvarstagande. Genom att företrädelsevis använda teoribildningen inom Corporate Citizenship ämnar vi visa och förklara vilka konkreta möjligheter detta kan innebära för företag verkandes i Sverige. Genomförande: Empirisk data har företrädelsevis samlats in med en postenkät riktad till 3000 individer ur den svenska allmänheten. Resultat: Välfärdsstatens tillbakadragande har skapat ett välfärdsvakuum där medborgarnas behov inte längre till fullo tillgodoses av staten. Vår undersökning visar vidare att den svenska allmänheten ger företagen legitimitet att agera som goda Corporate Citizens. De samhällsområden som är mest lämpade för företag att ägna sig åt i detta avseende är: arbetslöshetsbekämpning, brottsbekämpning, jämställdhet, kamp mot droger/missbruk, miljöfrågor, sjukvård, utbildning och äldreomsorg. Samarbete med ideella organisationer eller staten kan vara ett sätt att få legitimitet även inom andra samhällsområden För företag som inte är konsumentnära rekommenderar vi en tydlig kompetensbaserad koppling till det sociala ansvarstagandet. För konsumentnära företag finns även möjligheter att utnyttja kopplingar i det naturliga interagerande med det lokala samhället. Vi rekommenderar vidare företag att söka genomdriva sina Corporate Citizenship-projekt på en lokal nivå. Avslutningsvis finner vi att den svenska allmänheten både är mogen för och positivt inställd till att företagen på allvar börjar kommunicera ut sitt sociala ansvartagande.

Det finns många teorier kring det sociala ansvar företag bör ta och en av dem är Corporate Citizenship. Terminologin inom detta område tycks tilltala företag och de säger sig gärna vara ”goda samhällsmedborgare”. Frågan är vad det betyder att vara en medborgare och vad detta i sin tur innebär för företagen. Flera författare har ställt upp kriterier för vad ett företag bör uppfylla för att räknas som god samhällsmedborgare, men det saknas till stora delar empirisk forskning. Denna uppsats för fram en analysmodell bestående av fem karaktärsdrag en god företagsmedborgare bör inneha och applicerar detta på åtta företag. Slutsatsen är att inget av de undersökta företagen anses vara en god samhällsmedborgare och att endast ett av företagen är nära idealet. / Many theories exist regarding corporate social responsibility and one of them is Corporate Citizenship. The terminology in this field seems to appeal to corporations and they often refer to themselves as "good citizens". The question is what it means to be a citizen and what this implies for the corporations. Several authors have presented criterias which a corporation should fulfill in order to be regarded as a good citizen, but empirical research is lacking. This study presents a model of analysis containing five characteristics a good corporate citizen should hold and applies this to eight corporations. The conclusion made in the study is that none of the corporations examined is considered a good citizen and that only one of the corporations comes close to the ideal.

Abstract This research was to explore 1) the thought and the methods of Sinyi Realty¡¦s Corporate Social Responsibility 2) the intent and core concept in designing Sinyi Realty¡¦s Corporate Social Responsibility and 3) the everlasting strategy of promoting Sinyi Realty¡¦s Corporate Social Responsibility. Hopefully, this research can be a reference for enterprise and business managers to increase corporate social impact. Through seven profound interviews with seven real estate high-ranking executives, relevant quotations and logical inference there from, and my personal experiences and observations in the real estate field, I discovered that Sinyi Real Estate, from the beginning, did not really put particular emphasis on the domain of Corporate Social Responsibility. Instead, what Sinyi Real Estate did was just simply to solve or reduce social problems and insist on the principle of ¡§trust first, then profit¡¨, which virtually put the Corporate Social Responsibility into practice and it became one of the most respected model enterprises. Like all other enterprises, Sinyi Real Estate has had and will have its own difficulties and challenges to deal with in the past, in the present, and in the future (in the past, not being recognized by the mainstream; in the present, personal ideas can not match the goal of the corporation; and in the future, the concept is hard to be passed on) and needs to overcome all the difficulties and challenges one after another in order for Sinyi Real Estate to create new breakthroughs and grow stronger. The research discovered that Corporate Social Responsibility has a positive relationship to corporate everlasting development. Sinyi Real Estate can continuously work to reach the goal of ¡§make Sinyi Real Estate everlasting¡¨ and become the most valued enterprise in society by 1) inheriting and passing on Sinyi Realty¡¦s Corporate Social Responsibility 2) expanding service territory and market 3) enhancing the width and depth of sales 4) strengthening the influence of the Trade Association 5) constantly increasing the responsibility of relevant parties and 6) promoting the concept of green energy environmental impact. Key Words:Sinyi Realty, Corporate Social Responsibility, Business Ethics, Corporate Citizenship, Corporate Governance, Corporate Commitment, Social Participation, Envioronmental Protection, Social Enterprise.

<p>Bakgrund: Vi tycker oss kunna skönja en utveckling i Sverige där potentialen för företagens sociala ansvarstagande ökat till följd av att den traditionella trygghetsgaranten, staten, alltmer dragit sig tillbaka. Samtidigt konstaterar vi att begreppen som behandlar detta område ofta saknar konkreta förslag på vilka aktiviteter som är lämpliga för företag att ägna sig åt. </p><p>Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att beskriva statens roll och den allmänna opinionen i det svenska samhället vad avser förutsättningarna för företagens sociala ansvarstagande. Genom att företrädelsevis använda teoribildningen inom Corporate Citizenship ämnar vi visa och förklara vilka konkreta möjligheter detta kan innebära för företag verkandes i Sverige. </p><p>Genomförande: Empirisk data har företrädelsevis samlats in med en postenkät riktad till 3000 individer ur den svenska allmänheten. </p><p>Resultat: Välfärdsstatens tillbakadragande har skapat ett välfärdsvakuum där medborgarnas behov inte längre till fullo tillgodoses av staten. Vår undersökning visar vidare att den svenska allmänheten ger företagen legitimitet att agera som goda Corporate Citizens. De samhällsområden som är mest lämpade för företag att ägna sig åt i detta avseende är: arbetslöshetsbekämpning, brottsbekämpning, jämställdhet, kamp mot droger/missbruk, miljöfrågor, sjukvård, utbildning och äldreomsorg. Samarbete med ideella organisationer eller staten kan vara ett sätt att få legitimitet även inom andra samhällsområden För företag som inte är konsumentnära rekommenderar vi en tydlig kompetensbaserad koppling till det sociala ansvarstagandet. För konsumentnära företag finns även möjligheter att utnyttja kopplingar i det naturliga interagerande med det lokala samhället. Vi rekommenderar vidare företag att söka genomdriva sina Corporate Citizenship-projekt på en lokal nivå. Avslutningsvis finner vi att den svenska allmänheten både är mogen för och positivt inställd till att företagen på allvar börjar kommunicera ut sitt sociala ansvartagande.</p>

This thesis investigates possible approaches to social impact measurement in the context of corporate social responsibility initiatives and highlights possible challenges as well as the role of stakeholder interest. This is done by adopting a view focused on the social effectiveness for the beneficiaries of such initiatives, which is contrasting the hitherto existing way of evaluating impact predominately focused on internal and economic factors. Social impact-oriented corporate citizenship programmes of Deutsche Post DHL Group are chosen as a case study building the basis for the thesis. Information is collected in three in-depth semi-structured interviews with a company representative and two experts in the field and document analysis of corporate sustainability reports. The findings are discussed with the help of a theoretical framework based on stakeholder and legitimacy theory and qualitative characteristics for holistic impact measurement. The findings suggest that the development of appropriate tools and methods for (social) impact measurement is highly customised and adapted to the specific goals and intended outcomes of an intervention. Predefined and standardised measurement approaches, however, seem to have limited relevance and applicability. Moreover, effective measurement is especially feasible on an individual outcome level, while the social impact on a societal scale can only be achieved and summarised in an abstract and qualitative manner. In collaboration with its partners, Deutsche Post DHL Group appears to be strongly concerned about the effectiveness of its programmes and views impact measurement as an important part of its redesign. But the reporting of the company remains to be largely oriented on input and direct output levels.