The refugee crisis is a current and wildly debated topic in the Swedish society today. As a result, companies that engage themselves in the topic experience both positive and negative reactions. Theory suggests that CSR initiatives in a western context suffer a greater risk of being interpreted as political. However, research on political CSR’s influence on brand image is scarce.       The purpose of this thesis is therefore to explore if brand image is influenced differently when companies engage in sensitive issues than with other CSR initiatives. In order to do so, a conceptual framework was developed through an extensive literature review of previous theorization about political CSR and brand image. A qualitative approach were implemented using an exploratory design, applied on an experimental method using online focus groups.    The findings suggest that when CSR becomes politically sensitive, stakeholders have a hard time to see the purpose of the initiative. They question whether the company is involved because of genuine interest. When an initiative’s genuineness is questioned the positive responses in regards to brand image, weakens. This genuineness is determined by four themes: self-interest, consistency, public celebration and sensitivity. However, the results in this thesis are somewhat inconclusive making it difficult to determine whether there is a difference between sensitive CSR and other CSR. The fictitious cases, however, indicate that there are differences relating to all four themes, however, the real cases cannot verify this.    For future research we suggest three different options. Firstly, to examine the relation between sensitivity and responsibility, quantitatively. Secondly, to conduct a study examining other politically sensitive topics. Lastly, to conduct a similar study in hindsight of the refugee crisis, evaluating the effect involvement in sensitive political CSR has on brand image.

Depuis les années 90 il y a une montée en puissance des codes de conduite, mécanismes d'autorégulation et initiatives multi-parties prenantes visant à contrôler les activités sociales et environnementales dans les chaînes globales de valeur. Malgré l'augmentation des préoccupations sociales et environnementales, les effets de ces mécanismes de régulation privée pour la responsabilité sociale d'entreprise (RSE) sont encore limités. En prenant trois approches distinctes, nous proposons de compléter la littérature en expliquant de quelle manière les fournisseurs mettent en place, en bout de chaîne, les approches RSE véhiculées par les instruments de régulation privée. Les résultats, déclinés en trois articles, montrent que les régulations privées dans les chaînes globales de valeur viennent s'ajouter aux rôles politiques traditionnels des entreprises locales et remettent en question la gouvernance de la RSE dans l'industrie agro-alimentaire. Néanmoins, la RSE, soutenue par ces régulations, sous-tend une approche instrumentale, renforçant un mouvement de désencastrement du fournisseur des communautés géographiques à proximité. Il s'agit d'un processus simultané de détachement (dés-encastrement du local) et de connexion ré­encastrement dans le global), qui se joue au niveau des acteurs et leurs rôles, et concerne aussi bien les pratiques et les définitions de la RSE. Notre travail révèle également que l'adoption des contenus des régulations privées et leur diffusion aux fournisseurs de deuxième rang est sélective et non exhaustive. Le rôle des associations d'industriels est essentiel dans la traduction des contenus de ces régulations privées. / Since the 1990s there has been an escalating number of codes of conduct, self-regulatory schemes and multi-stakeholder initiatives aiming to monitor corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of global value chains. Because these initiatives lack legal enforcement they fall into the category of private regulations. Despite increasing concerns of worldwide degradation of social and environmental conditions, the effectiveness of private regulations is still elusive. Taking three distinct approaches, this research examines the outcomes of private regulations through a local, bottom of the chain perspective. We analyze how a supplier of a multinational subsidiary in the agro-food industry receives, understands and implements a supplier development program. We study 1) the inscription of private regulations in a long history of political roles undertaken by local companies in a developing country, namely Colombia. This sheds light on how private regulations can jeopardize the governance of corporate social responsibility in the industry. 2) The process of deployment of a private regulation at the intra-organizational level, looking at how it progressively transforms pre­existing notions of business involvement in society. We highlight two mechanisms leading to the disembedding of local actors from their geographically proximate communities, and re-embedding them into global notions of CSR. 3) The adoption of each demand included in a private regulation leading to understand heterogeneity in the adoption process. To bring these aspects together, we also evaluate to what extent demands from multinational subsidiaries are diffused to other levels of the supply chain. Overall, our results contribute to the literatures of political CSR and global value chain by expanding upon how these dynamics operate within a developing nation.