Kaffeproduktion har länge varit något med uttalad negativ påverkan, både socialt och miljömässigt, i de länder där det sker. Trots detta så menar Arvid Nordquist, en av de största aktörerna på den svenska kaffemarknaden, att deras arbete är hållbart och klimatkompenserat. Denna uppsats syfte är att jämföra kaffeproduktionens baksidor mot hur Arvid Nordquist använder extern kommunikation för att framställa sig som ansvarstagande i förhållande till dessa nackdelar. Inledningsvis kartläggs genom tidigare forskning vilka negativa aspekter som kaffeproduktionen orsakar för att sedan jämföras med hur och vad Arvid Nordquist uttalar och kommunicerar kring problematiken. De många miljösatsningar och projekt Arvid Nordquist, enligt sig själva, bidrar till anknyts och förstås i uppsatsen till begreppen Corporate Social Responsibility, Issues Management och hållbarhet. Genom en textanalys, främst en tematisk natur, av deras hemsida framkommer det hur Arvid Nordquist genom sin externa kommunikation kan uppnå både konkurrensfördelar, gott rykte och samtidigt föra en slags dold marknadsföring. Detta genom hur de identifierar och bemöter potentiella riskfrågor mot sin verksamhet, vilka olika projekt de väljer att belysa och hur de kommunicerar projektens positiva effekter.

The main aim of this diploma thesis is to discover an evidence of CSR influence upon brand image. More precisely, I will attempt to explore the impact of L'Oréal corporate social responsibility on L'Oréal Paris brand image. The concept of CSR, the center of the brand and brand image are described in the introduction. For better understanding, there are also practical examples provided. Chapter number three creates a fluent connecting link between theoretical and practical part, briefly characterising company L'Oréal and brand L'Oréal Paris. Following practical part focuses on introduction of the above mentioned research, conducted in the form of questionnaire, where semantic differential and physiognomic test were used. In the conclusion we can see the result analysis that consisted of simple summarization and further dependency determination. Based on the results obtained, we are able to answer the crucial question, whether the CSR of L'Oréal influences the L'Oréal Paris brand image or not and to suggest the best way of maximizing the potential positive effect.

My work deals with analysis of attitudes to ČSN EN ISO standards acceptance, above all ČSN EN ISO 9001:2001 and ČSN EN ISO 14001:2004. It focuses on microeconomic view of acceptance of these standards by Czech companies. The first problem is concerned with what standard is accepted and perceived in the Czech Republic and it examines possible influence by refusal or acceptance of the standard. The second area of my study is assesment of the degree of assets and costs for a company by standard implementation and subsequent calculation of these values. Analysis of estimations from experience, if the standard is an administrative burden for the society or if it is dealt with an effective instrument to successful development of the society. My study treats of reasons, causes and consequences of acceptance or non-acceptance of the standards.

This thesis focuses on the matters of corporate social responsibility, in particular in the Czech Republic. The aim is to present the most comprehensive overview of the given concept and consequently apply this theoretical knowledge to the concrete Czech firm, evaluate its application and then outline the possible areas of improvement. The thesis contains a lot of theoretical information on corporate social responsibility, but also practical recommendations and practices for successful implementation of social responsibility into the use. Attention is also paid to the comparison of the situation in the Czech Republic and abroad and to the identification of the possible constrains of the development of social responsibility inland.

Given the growing number of socially conscious and ethical consumers, brands have been taking a strategic approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) by integrating socially responsible activities into the brand's core value proposition in order to remain relevant in the marketplace and drive brand equity. Extant research on CSR has investigated its effect on various consumer behavior outcomes. However, from a brand-building perspective, there is still a lack of understanding on how to effectively leverage CSR, and not enough directions on how to overcome its challenges in order to build brand equity. Therefore, through three essays, the objective of this dissertation is to provide a deep understanding of the effect that CSR has on brand equity while revealing brand-building strategies that can be implemented to effectively leverage CSR, specifically within the (1) global, (2) luxury, and (3) co-creation contexts.

<p>This study takes a mixed-method, micro-approach to understanding the internal sensemaking and understanding of employee-directed CSR given the potentially changing nature of such efforts. In particular, this study explores how organizational members (i.e., employees) construct knowledge (via their sensemaking) of organizational CSR and primarily those employee-focused.I take a communicative and discursive approach in viewing CSR as a socially constructed phenomenon (Schultz, Castello, & Morsing, 2013) and (social) movement within organizations (Georgallis, 2017), and thus contextual and unique to organizational sites. Findings revealed D/discourses of CSR from employee perceptions at the micro level and reflected in macro level document messaging. Through this, I found various paradoxes of CSR from the expectations versus reality of what it means for organizations to be “responsible.” At the individual level, employee sensemaking around CSR came to light—particularly in highlighting how these stakeholders rationalize, perceive, and identify with such efforts, especially those targeting or benefiting employees. In presenting a multi-method study, this dissertation contributes to research on the micro-foundations and limited internal perspective of CSR and provides important pragmatic implications given the timely and relevant nature of this work.</p>

In recent years, many organizations, such as Starbucks and Pepsi Co., have received negative public attention for company actions that are perceived as challenges to social justice issues, particularly with regard to diversity. The increased public criticism of companies involved in controversial diversity related issues is likely due to societal expectations that companies increase their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Corporate Social performance (CSP) efforts and serve as leaders of social change (Cone Communications, 2017). The current two-part experimental investigation includes two experimental Studies exploring the impact of diversity related CSP, specifically regarding immigration and race which are particularly relevant to current organizations as they are controversial, polarizing, and closely tied to politics, on prospective employees’ perceptions of an organization as a potential employer. These two Studies also contribute to the literature by looking at the impact of person-organization fit (P-O fit) on the relationship between CSP and organizational attractiveness and likelihood to accept a job offer (Study 1); and the impact of diversity-related CSP on prospective employees of color’s attractiveness to an organization and likelihood to pursue a job (Study 2).

Magister Commercii - MCom / In a contemporary local context characterised by significant socio-economic challenges, exacerbated by rising systemic risks, and hampered by capacity constraints of the state, we examine the case for a strategic approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) as risk management for the public good. In this study, we propose that CSR could offer value as risk management to firm stakeholders and broader society, by aligning state, business, and societal objectives in tackling shared risk and by addressing some of the challenges associated with contemporary CSR practice. The objectives of this thesis were, therefore, twofold. First, to explain the relevance between the concepts of risk management and CSR and how a strategic approach to CSR as risk management may operate as a mechanism influencing practice and impact. Second, to analyse such an approach in practice to interrogate our propositions of CSR as risk management and to identify its key enabling and disabling factors. To achieve the first objective, we developed a theoretical and conceptual framework that positions CSR as a necessary and appropriate strategic risk management response to inefficient and inequitable markets. To achieve our second objective, we undertook an instrumental case study of Santam Limited and its proactive, pro-social risk management initiative, Partners for Risk and Resilience (P4RR). Using a critical realist case study approach, we interviewed 22 participants drawn from the company’s social and organisational contexts. Our findings suggest that the interaction of four principal stakeholder entities gave rise to P4RR: investors, company management, employees, and the state, and we would characterise the primary mechanism driving the Initiative as competitive pressures emanating from the market. Our findings broadly support our propositions that risk management is a useful analytical framework for CSR and, as a strategic approach, may encourage firm-wide integration of CSR practice and cooperation with salient stakeholders, while providing a rubric with which to evaluate its usefulness. Our findings are somewhat supportive of the proposition that such an approach may lead to a response to uncertainty that aligns more closely with economic risk management. Recommendations for future research include multiple case study analyses of different companies that engage in risk management for the public good. Strategically, we recommend the elevation of local government planning processes as a tool with which to align corporate pro-social activities to maximise the contribution to the public good.

In the last decade Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become increasingly important and multiple corporations that have been exposed for unethical behavior have been harshly penalized by the market. This study aims at evaluating wealth effects of unethical corporate behavior by doing a case study, in which an in-depth analysis is conducted on four infamous corporate scandals; Wells Fargo, HSBC, Danske Bank, and Volkswagen. Share prices are compared to an approximation of what the prices could have been, had the scandals not been revealed, to give an indication on abnormal returns around the announcement of the corporate scandals. The approximation is based on the share’s previous correlation with market returns. Results of the study are then contrasted to and analyzed with regard to findings of previously conducted event studies on the wealth loss suffered due to exposed unethical behavior. It is found that the corporate scandals resulted in substantial direct wealth losses in terms of market cap value and shareholder wealth for two of our cases, Wells Fargo and Volkswagen. The value decrease that Danske Bank suffered was also substantial, but had a lag in discernible market reactions in comparison to Wells Fargo and Volkswagen. HSBC has in recent years been lagging behind our price approximation, but any direct negative effect from the scandal announcement cannot be observed.

The global move towards sustainability and sustainability reporting, the rise and influence of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and triple bottom line reporting, together with the launch of the King III Report, and revision of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listing requirements in South Africa, both requiring the preparation of an integrated report, have resulted in a uniquely altered information environment, in which investors are required to make investment decisions. The value-relevance of this new sustainability information is however to date untested in a South African context. The introduction of the Social Responsible Investment (SRI) Index in South Africa provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the value-relevance of such new reporting. This research report tests the GRI, using the SRI Index as a proxy, to determine whether this accepted reporting standard is recognized as being valuerelevant, from both a short term and long term perspective, on the JSE over the period 2004 to 2012. The short term value-relevance is tested using cumulative average abnormal returns in an event study methodology, while the long term effect was investigated using a 4-tiered portfolio construction technique, which uses the SRI Index category rankings to define the portfolios. The results indicate that true to the long term nature of sustainability information, in the short term the quality of sustainability and sustainability reporting has no effect on the market value of a company. However, in the long term, a positive effect was found where the SRI listed portfolio, and the SRI best performer portfolio, significantly outperformed the non-listed portfolio on a consistent basis as measured using relative performance. The SRI persistent best performer portfolio however underperformed all other portfolios. This is however due to an overwhelming lack of diversification due to a low number of shares in the portfolio, as well as the portfolio being severely overweight in resource shares, which tend to be the best reporters, due to their large environmental impact. The research report therefore concludes that investing in a higher quality SRI/GRI sustainability portfolio, as opposed to a lower quality portfolio, resulted in excess returns to the investors over the period 2004-2012.