Matthias S. Fifka

Contents and Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility Website Reporting in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Seven-Country Study:

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in developing countries has recently received increasing attention, and scholars have pointed to the strong contextuality of CSR in the respective regions. Regarding the latter, however, sub-Saharan Africa has been scrutinized only marginally by academia. Moreover, empirical research on the impact of the institutional context has been scant, despite its attributed importance for CSR. Our article seeks to fill a part of this research gap by investigating CSR website reporting of 211 companies in seven sub-Saharan countries. The study’s aim is twofold: First, we identify to what extent sub-Saharan companies report on CSR and which contents they disclose. Second, by building on institutional theory, we investigate how the socio-economic and political environments influence CSR reporting. For this purpose, we examine the impact of country-level and company-level determinants. We find that the sample African companies’ CSR efforts focus strongly on local philanthropy and therefore differ substantially from Western CSR approaches. Furthermore, we evidence that GDP and level of governance standard positively affect CSR reporting. Our study contributes to the literature by empirically evidencing the contextuality of CSR in Africa and by explaining how specific country- and company-level determinants contribute to or hamper the development of CSR in developing countries.

CSR-Kommunikation und Nachhaltigkeitsreporting

Das Reporting ist in den letzten Jahren ein elementarer Bestandteil der CSR-Kommunikation geworden. Laut einer Studie von KPMG (2011) gaben 95 Prozent der weltgrosten 250 Unternehmen im Jahr 2011 einen eigenstandigen Nachhaltigkeitsbericht („stand alone report“) heraus. Angemerkt werden soll bereits an dieser Stelle, dass der Terminus „Nachhaltigkeitsbericht“ im deutschen Kontext, der hier Gegenstand der Betrachtung sein soll, keineswegs der einzig verwendete ist. Ebenso gelaufig sind „Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report“, „Corporate Responsibility (CR) Report“ oder auch der englischsprachige Begriff des „Sustainability Report“. Auch deutschsprachige Bezeichnungen wie „Gesellschaftliche Verantwortung“ oder „Gesellschaftliches Engagement“ sind als Berichtstitel in der Unternehmenspraxis keine Seltenheit. Der klassische „Umweltbericht“ oder „Sozialbericht“ ist hingegen zur Ausnahme geworden.

The Baltics: Continuing Boom or Bursting Bubble?

Since the late 1990s, the economies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have experienced unprecedented economic growth, which has attracted a large number of foreign investors. American companies were among the first to seek business opportunities and have invested over

Sustainability and Social Innovation

1 billion in the three countries as of 2008. However, the boom—partly financed on a loose credit policy—has recently created a fragile economic situation due to soaring wages, doubledigit inflation, and high current account deficits. The resulting economic deceleration in the first half of 2008 has led analysts to comment that the “Baltic Bubble” is about to burst, potentially leading to a long-term recession. Other experts, nevertheless, maintain that the three countries are only experiencing a natural consolidation, which does not seriously endanger business opportunities in the long run. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current condition of the Baltic economies and the environment for businesses there in order to determine if the three countries will still be attractive destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the future.

Intra-industry strategic alliances for managing sustainability-related supplier risks: Motivation and outcome

Since the publication of Our Common Future by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 and Elkington’s (1997) Cannibals with Forks: The Triple Bottom Line of Twenty-First Century Business 10 years later, it is widely accepted that sustainability has three dimensions: an economic, an environmental, and a social one. Out of these three dimensions or pillars, as they are sometimes known, the social one has received the least interest, also when it comes to reporting (Fifka and Drabble 2012). While the economic dimension seems to be the overriding pillar, the ecological one has also been given considerable attention, especially with regard to the development of new environmentally friendly technologies. Thus, in this regard, a mutual interdependency between sustainability and its ecological dimension can be observed. On the one hand side, ecology can be regarded as one vital element of sustainability. Out of these three dimensions or pillars, as they are sometimes known, the social one has received the least interest, also when it comes to reporting (Fifka and Drabble 2012).

Managing Stakeholders for the Sake of Business and Society

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how intra-industry strategic alliances (SAs) seek to assess supplier risk related to sustainability, what motivation drives single members to form or join such an SA, and how such a joint endeavor affects supplier risk management. Design/methodology/approach An embedded single case study with multiple units of analysis was conducted. The main data were collected through semi-structured interviews with key respondents from seven leading chemical companies, three of which were founding members of the SA, while four were new members. Findings This paper shows that forming/joining an SA concerning sustainability-related supplier risk assessment, results in the reduction of task uncertainty and equivocality as well as the increase of information processing capacities. Based on the implemented sharing routines, a higher overall efficiency can be achieved. Moreover, the members benefit from an enhanced identification of varying stakeholder expectations, a facilitated capability building and a more comprehensive supplier risk assessment. In particular, the joint endeavors result in assessment processes of higher robustness, which provide outcomes of higher quality. Originality/value This paper is the first to investigate companies’ efforts toward improving their supplier risk management in the area of sustainability by establishing/joining an intra-industry SA. By providing insights into the motivation to form or join such a collaborative platform and illustrating the effects that arise from the SA’s work from an organizational information processing perspective, it provides a contribution to both academics and managerial practice.

Einführung – Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung: Eingrenzung eines heterogenes Phänomen

Since Freeman’s (Strategic management: A stakeholder approach, Pitman, Boston, 1984) seminal work on the stakeholder view of the firm, stakeholder management has become a much discussed concept in the business as well as in the academic world. In both realms, the call for integrating stakeholders into business decision-making has resonated widely. However, the transfer of elaborate concepts developed by academia into business practice poses a problem, and companies do not know how to address the complex issue of managing stakeholders successfully so that a benefit for the business and for the stakeholders is created. The theoretical and practical discussion of stakeholder management presented in this chapter aims to address this knowledge gap and thereby represents the missing link which is the focus of this chapter.

Zustand und Perspektiven der Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung

Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung geniest angesichts der gegenwartigen Uberlegungen der Europaischen Union, eine sogenannte Berichtspflicht einzufuhren, grose Aufmerksamkeit in Politik, Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft. Kontrovers wird diskutiert, ob eine solche Pflicht eine unzumutbare Belastung fur die betroffenen Unternehmen darstellt oder ob sie die konsequente Umsetzung einer Rechenschaftspflicht ist, die Unternehmen aufgrund der sozialen, okologischen und wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen ihres Handelns gegenuber der Gesellschaft haben.

Sustainability Reporting: A Challenge Worthwhile

Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung war in der jungeren Vergangenheit, daran besteht kein Zweifel, ein Bereich nahezu inflationaren Wachstums. Das zeigen eindrucksvoll die internationalen Studien, welche KPMG seit 1993 zum Nachhaltigkeitsreporting veroffentlicht hat. Wahrend es kurz vor dem Millenniumswechsel im Jahr 1999 nur 35 Prozent der grosten 250 Unternehmen weltweit waren, die einen Nachhaltigkeitsbericht publizierten, waren es im Jahr 2011 bereits 95 Prozent. Nachhaltigkeitsberichterstattung ist also uber die Jahre – zumindest unter Konzernen – zu einem Standard geworden und hat, wie noch zu zeigen sein wird, in diesem Zuge auch eine Standardisierung erfahren

Strategisches CSR-Management im Tourismus

Sustainability reporting (SR) is increasingly becoming a standard, especially among large companies, and the publication of a respective report can be considered a common business practice nowadays among multinational corporations. In a recent study, KPMG (2011) found that 95 % of the world’s largest 250 corporations issued such a report. 10 years earlier, only 45 % had done so (KPMG 2002). Moreover, SR has not only become a standard, it has also gradually been standardized with regard to the content disclosed. In 2011, already 80 % of the world’s largest 250 corporations applied the guidelines provided by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for determining the contents of their reports.