Sybille Sachs

Corporate social responsibility from a ''stakeholder view'' perspective: CSR implementation by a Swiss mobile telecommunication provider

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to show how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is actually implemented and managed in business practice by a mobile communications provider in Switzerland. Based on this presentation the paper aims to analyze whether this implementation in the firm is consistent or not, to the responsibilities derived from the stakeholder view framework as it has been proposed by Post et al. (2002).Design/methodology/approach – The goal of this investigation is twofold. From a theoretical perspective, the paper aims to find out if the stakeholder view framework is a suitable tool to assess a firms practical efforts in the area of CSR. And from a practitioners perspective, the application of the stakeholder view framework may help in identifying “blind spots” whereby closing them could increase the firms effectiveness concerning the implementation of their specific corporate responsibility.Findings – Because of the empirical findings it is concluded that the application of the...

Changing managers’ values towards a broader stakeholder orientation

Challenged by recent incidents as they occurred at Enron, WorldCom, Disney and Xerox, management has to rethink its values and to consider the expectations of their stakeholders. In reality, it can be observed that some firms are already on a learning path to adopt a broader stakeholder‐oriented view than before. In order to implement the stakeholder view better into strategic thinking of management, top managers have to change their values which are challenged by stakeholder‐oriented incentives. Based on three comparative case studies some first propositions are developed.

A CSR framework due to multiculturalism: the Swiss Re case

Purpose – Owing to the fact that the concept of “CSR orientation in different cultural settings” is still quite unexplored, both in CSR theory and in empirical research the paper aims to contribute to the question of how corporations can deal with different CSR orientations when they perform their activities in different cultural settingsDesign/methodology/approach – Theoretically, the analysis is based on two well‐known corporate social responsibility (CSR) approaches: first, reference is made to Carroll who reflects the economic paradigm as the basic layer of a pyramid in all cultural settings as economic responsibility and, on the opposite side, to Kang and Wood who give priority to moral and social responsibilities aligned to the difference of cultural settings. Based on the comparison of these theories in addition to a qualitative case study in the reinsurance industry some practical insights will be provided into and managerial implications developed regarding how to respond to the challenges of cor...

The spider in the web

On the basis of the previous chapter, you are in a position to know who your stakeholders are. We have already discussed where the benefit and risk potentials in the stakeholder relationship may be found. However, we have not dealt with the fact that stakeholders are not only in contact with your corporation, but that they also have relationships among themselves. Although this is not surprising, our studies show that at present relatively few corporations concern themselves with networking. After a closer look, they are therefore often surprised at the effects such indirect relations can have on their own value-creation processes. Let us look at the following example:

Stakeholder relations and maintaining the licence to operate: a comparative case study of the Swiss telecommunications industry

Purpose – In the research project “Good practices of stakeholder view” three firms in the Swiss telecommunications industry were analysed in order to compare their stakeholder involvement. This paper seeks to illustrate how these three firms, namely Swisscom, Sunrise, and Orange, dealt with a particular problem all of them faced: the deployment of antennas for mobile telephony that in some cases was strongly opposed by the population. Thereby, the “Telco” firms were challenged as societal institutions and had to defend their licence to operate. The three firms chose different strategies to deal with the problem.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on comparative case studies that combine qualitative and quantitative aspects.Findings – The benefits of good stakeholder relations are illustrated as well as the problems that might arise when stakeholders are ignored.Research limitations/implications – The findings are based on a sample of three telecommunication firms.Practical implications – The ...

Facing the Normative Challenges: The Potential of Reflexive Historical Research

This article explores methodological problems of qualitative research templates, that is, the Eisenhardt and the Gioia case study approaches, which are relevant for the business and society (B&S) scholarship and outlines a reflexive historical research methodology that has the potential to face these challenges. Building on Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics, we draw critical attention to qualitative B&S research and frame the methodological problems identified as the normative challenges of qualitative research, that is, to productively deal with both the researchers’ norms and the research subjects’ norms. We then introduce the reflexive historical case study (RHCS), a distinct research strategy to face normative challenges based on philosophical hermeneutics and the interpretive tradition of studying organizations. This research approach aims at theory elaboration while its mode of enquiry is reflexive. By explicating three of its key characteristics and using a case example to illustrate our approach, we demonstrate how B&S scholars can benefit from the “temporal filter” of the historical lens and from reflexive concerns about the nature of theory and empirical material. To tap the potential of historical research, we finally envision a research program for studying issues and debates associated with B&S scholarship.

Der Stakeholder Ansatz — Ein umfassendes Framework des strategischen Managements

Die moderne (betriebswirtschaftliche) Strategietheorie setzt sich als vielleicht wichtigstes Ziel, zu erklaren, warum Unternehmungen trotz Wettbewerb eine nachhaltige Rente erzielen, d.h. einen Ubergewinn im Vergleich zu anderen Unternehmungen trotz voll wirksamen Wettbewerbs. Die Logik des strategischen Denkens der heutigen Strategietheorie geht dabei davon aus, dass eine Unternehmung dann eine strategische Rente erzielt, wenn sie uber einen nachhaltig verteidigungsfahigen Wettbewerbsvorteil verfugt. Voraussetzung dafur ist, dass sie sich in wesentlichen Punkten von anderen Unternehmungen bzw. den Mitbewerbern unterscheidet. Damit stellt sich die Frage: Wieso sind Unternehmungen, trotz gleichem Wettbewerbskontext, dennoch so verschieden, dass einzelne eine nachhaltige strategische Rente erzielen konnen. Bei der Erklarung dieser strategisch relevanten Unterschiede konnen drei Argumentationsgruppen unterschieden werden: eine menschenorientierte Argumentation, welche die Unterschiede auf das spezifische Verhalten und die besonderen Eigenschaften der im jeweiligen Unternehmen tatigen Menschen zuruckfuhrt, eine institutionelle Argumentation, welche die Unterschiede aus strukturellen und prozessualen Verschiedenheiten in Unternehmungen erklart, eine inhaltsorientierte Argumentation, welche die Wurzeln des strategischen Erfolges einer Unternehmung in ihrer spezifischen Positionierung in den Markten oder in ihren einzigartigen Ressourcen (Resource-based View) sucht. (Ruhli/Sachs, 2000, S. 129) Alle drei Perspektiven sind heute in starkem Masse herausgefordert. Nicht nur die Globalisierung, die Liberalisierung oder der technisch-wissenschaftliche Fortschritt bedingen einen raschen Wandel der unternehmerischen Bedingungen und neue Akzentsetzungen im strategischen Management. Vielmehr sieht sich das „real existierende Shareholder-Value-Denken“ auch auf strategischer Ebene harter Kritik ausgesetzt. Die Fehlleistungen und Pleiten, zu welchen, trotz operativ guten Leistungen, eine enge okonomische strategische Sicht fuhrt, sind etwa im Swissair-Fall sehr klar geworden. Und die verschiedenen „corporate scandals“ in Amerika, wie auch andernorts, zeigen, dass das strategische Verhalten von Unternehmungen nicht einseitig in seiner okonomischen Dimension betrachtet werden darf; es bedarf einer ganzheitlichen Sichtweise. Die Unter?nehmung ist zwar originar eine Wirtschaftseinheit, die okonomischen Gesetzmasigkei?ten unterliegt. Sie ist aber immer auch ein Element des gesellschaftlichen Institutionen-gefuges und ist daher interaktiv mit einer grosen Zahl von Anspruchsgruppen (Stakeholders) verknupft. Dies ist von Hans Hinterhuber, dem dieser Artikel gewidmet ist, in seinen grundlegenden Werken zum strategischen Management immer wieder aufgezeigt worden (Hinterhuber, 1997, 1996, 1990).

Practical Issues in Implementing the Stakeholder View as a Core Competence

A stakeholder-oriented perspective stimulated the discussion concerning competence-based strategic management. This perspective enlarged the range of causalities that provided core competencies and widened managerial discretion. The aim of this paper is to gain empirical insights based on the situation in nine companies. Here we focus on three research questions: Why did the firms adopt a broader stakeholder orientation? How does this perspective affect the firms’ strategy, structure and culture and to what extent are the stakeholder interactions considered as core competencies? How is this implemented in reality? To answer these questions we conducted interviews and held workshops with nine firms. The results of this empirical study are reported and conclusions for the practical management are drawn.

Transparency and sustainability

Now the question arises of how to communicate with one’s stakeholders. The following anecdote of Paul Watzlawick1 illustrates how not to:

Perception, reflection and communication: an empirical case study within the pharmaceutical industry

Purpose – This paper aims to show how instruments of empirical opinion research can help to provide a basis for interactive communication between a company and its stakeholders via the media, so that important issues can be identified and discussed internally and externally. By doing this, the company can actively participate in the process of forming public opinion and building trust.Design/methodology/approach – Concentrating on the company of Pfizer, in order to acquire a comprehensive view, an empirical analysis of the opinions of those stakeholders mentioned in Pfizers vision was conducted. In a first step, a content analysis of the Pfizer web site, two representative computer‐aided telephone interviews (CATI) surveys with the Swiss public, a content analysis over a period of two years of the five most important daily newspapers, and interviews with the top management team of Pfizer Switzerland were carried out. In a second step, the findings of the analysis were reflected on in a workshop with Pfiz...