Abstract
As stakeholder expectations surrounding the role of business in society evolve, concepts of corporate responsibility (CR) and sustainable development (SD) become increasingly relevant. Significantly in this regard, a review of the latest literature suggests that the management tools for translating notions of sustainable responsible management into everyday business practice are limited. The instruments available inadequately provide feasible management solutions either because they are vague and under-developed, and accordingly lack comprehensiveness, or, in contrast, they are so overly complicated that management decision-makers view them as incomprehensible. The resulting lack of transparency for all stakeholders, but in particular for decision-makers facing the management challenge of identifying why and how to integrate CR and SD solutions into their business operations, is the “missing link” upon which this chapter focuses. It aims to address the identified lacunae by rigorously reviewing a recent conceptualisation (CR management framework) of corporate approaches to responsible stakeholder management. It applies problem-solving techniques both theoretically and empirically via qualitative evidence obtained in a case study of a leading transnational corporation’s CR activities. This study simultaneously tests the framework and, in doing so, critically examines the responsible activities of the company under investigation. The ensuing results highlight both the positive potential and eventual room for improvement in both the management framework and the company’s CR response.
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- 1.
In this case all life on this planet.
- 2.
Although Corporate Social Responsibility is typically the most common label employed in Europe, in this chapter the word “social” has been deliberately omitted from this term in order to reflect the fact that not only social, but also ecological, moral, financial, and other key responsibilities are implied in this acronym of which “social” matters are merely one (albeit highly salient) component.
- 3.
According to a recent study at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, the predominant focus on economic wealth worldwide has led to a web of corporate control in which 147 companies (who own inter-locking states of one another) together globally govern 40 % of the wealth in the network and 737 companies control 80 % of the total wealth created by business globally. To generate this data, three systems theorists utilised a database listing 37 million companies and investors worldwide and analysed all 43,060 transnational corporations and share ownerships linking them. They combine the mathematics long used to model natural systems with comprehensive corporate data to map ownership among the world's transnational corporations (TNCs). The resulting overview of the structure of global corporate control is being hailed as the first to go beyond ideology to empirically identify the world-wide network of corporate power (New Scientist 2014).
- 4.
The primary research, which was completed between 2005 and 2010, focused on the pharmaceutical industry in the UK and Germany. It employed a range of research methods including the documentary analysis of 38 company websites and reports, a telephone survey of 46 companies, observation of the CR stakeholder management practices of 142 firms, and 18 in-depth interviews with senior managers from leading pharmaceutical companies (for further details see O’Riordan 2010).
- 5.
Including a Board Member, Managing Director Johnson & Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust & CSR Director EMEA.
- 6.
For further details please follow these links: http://issuu.com/trust2013/docs/johnson-johnson-corporate-citizensh/1?e=8440982/2937331 and http://www.jjcct.org/who-we-are/annual-reports-and-accounts/.
- 7.
Follow this link for further details: http://www.jjcct.org/who-we-are/board-members-our-team/.
- 8.
Given the emphasis on the Johnson & Johnson Corporate Citizenship Trust as the object of analysis for this study, this investigation primarily focuses on the time period since the trust was established in 2007 to its strategic objective mandate in 2018. Nevertheless, it is relevant to note that the findings presented in this section have evolved within the context of the more general philanthropic activities which emerged 16 years ago that were pursued by Johnson & Johnson. Driven largely by broad-brush, universal principles of moral duty, these activities focused predominantly on corporate giving and an environmental programme which established the basis for a global strategic framework for corporate contributions that led to the adoption of the umbrella term “corporate citizenship” to convey all activities of this nature within the Johnson & Johnson family of companies.
- 9.
This investigation primarily focuses on the time period since the trust was established in 2006 to its strategic objective mandate in 2018.
- 10.
According to the Jonhnson & Johnson website, Robert Wood Johnson, a former chairman from 1932 to 1963 and a member of the Company’s founding family crafted the credo in 1943 just before Johnson & Johnson became a publicly traded company. This was long before the term “corporate social responsibility” became “popular”. The company considers this credo to comprise more than just a moral compass but rather a recipe for business success. They consider the fact that Johnson & Johnson is one of only a handful of companies that have flourished through more than a century of change to present the proof for this claim. For further details please refer to http://www.jnj.com/about-jnj/jnj-credo#.
- 11.
For further details please follow these links: http://www.jjcct.org/what-we-do/ and the annual report which provides a financial overview http://issuu.com/trust2013/docs/johnson-johnson-corporate-citizensh/1?e=8440982/2937331.
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O’Riordan, L., Zmuda, P. (2015). Conceptual Framework for Corporate Responsibility Management: A Critical Review of Sustainable Business Practice Based on a Case Study of a Leading Transnational Corporation. In: O'Riordan, L., Zmuda, P., Heinemann, S. (eds) New Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility. FOM-Edition. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-06794-6_24
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