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The role of
corporations in a
‘world at risk’
ISP-FIDE Workshop
Rica Bakklandet Hotel, Trondheim
19-20 November 2012
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ISP-FIDE
• «Institusjonsforankrede strategiske prosjekter (ISP) i filosofi og
idéhistorie»
• Background: Evaluation of Norwegian Philosophy departments
by the Norwegian Research Council
• Name of project: «Applied Ethics: Technology and Governance
of Health and Natural Resources». CSR as an element in this.
• Philosophy Department at NTNU with partners from Universities
of Nordland, Tromsø, and Bergen.
• Goals: 1) Strengthen applied ethics as a research field in
Norway through cooperation with other relevant Norwegian
Philosophy institutions (joint workshops and research
applications), 2) Improve the quality of publications, through coauthorship and more extended informal reviewing from
colleagues at other institutions.
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The role of corporations in a
‘world at risk’
• Ulrich Beck, “World Risk Society” (cf. Beck 1999; Beck 2007a).
• Man-made, global risks: E.g. climate change and financial
crises, producing worldwide consequences that are hard to
predict.
• The role of large, multinational corporations in creating and in
managing these risks.
• Under which circumstances can corporations be held
accountable for the future impact their decisions might have on
society?
• Goal of workshop: 1) To develop ideas and give feedback on
papers in progress, 2) To explore the foundation for joint
research projects.
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Workshop program
Monday 19th November
12.00-13.00
Lunch
13.00-13.15
Opening words
13.15-14.00
Dagfinn Døhl Dybvig (UiN)
"Ulrich Beck's Risk Society revisited in the light of CSR"
14.00-14.45
Siri Granum Carson (NTNU)
"Loosening or tightening the bonds? Explicating CSR in the Norwegian context"
14.45-15.15
15.15-16.00
Coffee break
Øivind Hagen (BI Norwegian
Business School)
"Expressiveness as a driver for innovation. The case of CSR"
16.00-16.45
Hin Hoarau Heemstra (UiN)
"A destination-network´s response to climate change: the case of Svalbard"
16.45-17.15
17.15-18.00
Coffee break
Bjørg Granly (NTNU)
"Investigating CSR practice and drivers in Norwegian metal processing SMEs"
18.00-18.30
Annik Magerholm Fet (NTNU)
"Is CSR a driver for success in Gazelle companies?"
19.30: Workshop dinner at Glassgården Brasseri og Grill, Rica Bakklandet Hotel
Tuesday 20th November
9.00-9.45
"Globalization and Multinational Corporations - Creating Social Accountability through Voluntary Codes of Conduct"
Prakash Sethi (Baruch College,
CUNY)
"Trust in the market discourse – in business relations between companies from democracies and non-democracies"
9.45-10.30
Lin Olderøien Elvegård
(NTNU/HIST)
10.30-10.45
10.45-11.30
Coffee break
John Eilif Hermansen (UiN)
11.30-12.15
Juan Miguel Rey Pino, Lucia
Porcu and Salvador del Barrio
(University of Granada)
12.15-13.15
13.15-14.00
Lunch
May Thorseth (NTNU)
14.00-15.00
"Pitch session": Presentation of ideas for research projects and other possible collaboration
15.00-15.15
Closing comments
“Valuation of ecosystem services and objectification of ecological indicators”
"How to fight against integrated marketing communication of tobacco companies: some insight from critical and social
marketing"
"Institutional Obstacles to Sustainability – the Guangdong Case"
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Loosening or tightening the bonds?
- Explicating CSR in the Norwegian Context
The Role of Corporations in a ‘World at Risk’ – ISP-FIDE workshop November 19-20 2012
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Background
• Carson/Hagen/Sethi paper (work in progress): CSR in
the Scandinavian context driven by globalization
processes, two forces:
1) Organizational expressiveness
2) Re-legitimizing
• Cf. Ulrich Beck 2007: «[O]rganizations as actors in the
transnational realm face an increasing ‘legitimacy
gap’. They make decisions whose consequences
transcend any particular time or place – and thereby
the regulatory apparatus of the state.»
The Role of Corporations in a ‘World at Risk’ – ISP-FIDE workshop November 19-20 2012
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CSR and globalization
• Woods (2001): Globalization as
1.
Internationalization
2.
Technology development
3.
Political liberalization
• Scherer/Palazzo (2011): Globalization necessitates a
shift towards a new concept of «political CSR»
The Role of Corporations in a ‘World at Risk’ – ISP-FIDE workshop November 19-20 2012
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The Explication of CSR in Europe
•
•
•
Vogel (1992): American
business ethics «more
individualistic, more legalistic,
and more universalistic».
Sethi (1994): Focus on the
competitive context.
Matten/Moon (2008): Explicit
vs. implicit CSR.
The Role of Corporations in a ‘World at Risk’ – ISP-FIDE workshop November 19-20 2012
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The Explication of CSR in Scandinavia
• Consensual political
culture, strong welfare
state, tripartite
agreements.
• Gjølberg (2010):
Underlying conflict
between original CSR
and ”the Nordic model”.
• Strand (2009): The
«cooperative advantage»
of Scandinavian
companies.
The Role of Corporations in a ‘World at Risk’ – ISP-FIDE workshop November 19-20 2012
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The Explication of CSR in Norway
• Challenge for the Norwegian
labour market: Towards selfregulation of labor standards (e.g.
SHE reform 1997)
• Substantial state ownership in
large companies, operating in
conflict areas.
• CSR policy developed through
government-driven initiatives,
focusing on operations abroad.
The Role of Corporations in a ‘World at Risk’ – ISP-FIDE workshop November 19-20 2012
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Example 1: BAMA’s letter of intent
•
•
•
CSR as a governmentdriven concept.
The state as stakeholder
2009: BAMA + Norwegian
government signed letter of
intent on strategic
cooperation on CSR
The Role of Corporations in a ‘World at Risk’ – ISP-FIDE workshop November 19-20 2012
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Example 2:
The re-legitimizing of Hydro
“The standard of social responsibility is
renewed. The industry should be
measured on how much value we
manage to create by occupying less of
the scarce resources of society – energy,
clean environment and labor – rather
than how many we manage to employ”
(Eivind Reiten, former CEO of Hydro,
2007).
The Role of Corporations in a ‘World at Risk’ – ISP-FIDE workshop November 19-20 2012
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Loosening or tightening the bonds?
The explication of CSR as
1.The weakening of formal and legal ties binding the
companies, as a result of globalization processes.
2.The development towards more binding stakeholder
relations in the sense of more explicit and specified
commitments.
The Role of Corporations in a ‘World at Risk’ – ISP-FIDE workshop November 19-20 2012
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Proposal for research application
spring (April?) 2013: SAMKUL
• SAMKUL: Cultural Conditions Underlying Social Change. Work
programme 2011-2020
• From Research Council strategy: «Better and more coordinated
humanities and social science research on the cultural
prerequisites underlying societal development will thus be
needed to supplement the more instrumental-oriented thematic
priority areas in Norwegian research».
• One of seven thematic priority areas: «The economic
environment». Development and cultural variation in «the
boundries between state and market», and «comparative
research on various modes of economic thinking can generate
new perspectives on sustainable development».
• Priorities: Cooperation between several institutions, inter- and
multidiciplinary studies, issues of relevance to policymakers,
international cooperation.