Annette Cerne

Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water: Discourses Integrating Corporate Social Responsibility and Growth in International Business

In this paper, the purpose is to illustrate how organised actors within an international business environment manage to integrate conflicting perspectives on growth and corporate social responsibility (CSR). An empirical study of sustainable fishing in Britain between 2002 and 2005 illustrates how different organisations succeed in creating a shared meaning on sustainability and CSR among the participant organisations. The empirical material is analysed with the help of critical discourse analysis. Results indicate that the form of collective understanding displayed in the study, may have unforeseen consequences for sustainability and principles developed to handle this issue within an international business context. Implications are that an interdisciplinary perspective within economics and other scientific fields could contribute to models with increased possibilities to be applied in empirical settings.

Market communication as socio-political activity in emerging markets

The management of international business activities today necessarily includes the market communication of socio-political activity in emerging markets. Critique of market communication of socio-political activity in emerging markets varies from seeing it as something organisations say rather than do to suggesting existing market communication as embracing a simplistic view of communication and socio-political activity in emerging markets. In this chapter, communication and language as social practice is introduced as a possible way to explore market communication and socio-political activity in emerging markets as part of a more complex activity. Various perspectives from philosophical and sociological traditions are used in combination with marketing and management views on and empirical examples of communication and socio-political activity in emerging markets. This chapter illustrates how market communication may be seen as socio-political activity in emerging markets rather than the audit and report of it.