“And of course our major contribution remains to run a decent business.” Making sense of Shell's sense-making in Nigeria during the 1990s

Abstract

The intellectual engagement with multinational enterprises in International Relations has found a new home within the narratives of global governance and corporate social responsibility. Both narratives seem to agree that the role of business has changed as state capacities to provide governance assumingly have diminished and, based on broader social and political responsibilities, enterprises began to participate more actively in the provision of collective goods. Increased participation alone, however, does not reveal how corporate actors define and make sense of their responsibilities and their roles within global governance. In fact, focusing on corporate responsibilities and corporate governance contributions does not consider enterprises as actors in their own right who actively interpret and respond to changes in their normative environments. To fill this gap, the article proposes a framework that conceptualizes corporate agency as inherently social and creative. This framework, which can be applied to different contexts, is illustrated by reconstructing interpretative frames and self-understandings advanced by Shell in response to its crisis in Nigeria during the 1990s. Based on this reconstruction, Shell failed to develop and communicate a clear understanding of its social responsibilities, and its overall integration into global governance is likely to remain an ambiguous process in which uncertainty and indeterminacy prevail.

Corporate Role Conceptions in Global Forest Governance

“…Similar to national role conceptions, which allow states to express ‘different orientations toward different sets of relations’ (Holsti, 1970, p. 303), corporate role conceptions offer MNCs the possibility of reacting to different expectations and settings. This is in line with the conceptualization of corporate agency proposed by Brühl and Hofferberth (2013) and Hofferberth (2017) who state that MNCs adapt to their social context and respond to changing expectations in an interpretative and creative process. It also confirms the view of behavioral governance researchers who argue that corporate agency is ‘socially situated and socially constituted’ (Westphal and Zajac, 2013, p. 607).…”

“…According to Pirard et al (2015, p. 1), this global movement has evolved in a ‘context of limited action on deforestation and increased consumer (and in turn corporate) awareness, along with perceptions of weak public governance’ (Pirard et al, 2015, p. 1). Considering the key role that demand‐side interventions play in reducing global deforestation and the public desire for greater MNC involvement, policy makers and scholars have a strong interest in better understanding the nature of corporate agency in global forest governance (Hofferberth, 2017). This article contributes to the existing literature on corporate agency in global governance by shedding light on corporate role conceptions, that is, the different ways in which MNCs see themselves and their function.…”

“…As noted by Hofferberth (2017, 2019), global governance research has so far focused on the structural effects of corporate agency, largely ignoring the actors themselves. As a consequence, ‘we only have a limited understanding of what constitutes [MNCs] and their agency in the first place and how they sustain their agency in light of changing expectations’ (Hofferberth, 2017, p. 140). I argue that one constitutive element of corporate agency is corporate self‐conception, that is, the way MNCs conceive themselves and their function in a given context.…”

“…Rather, MNCs have acquired agency in world politics, that is, the ‘authority and capacity to govern people and issue areas’ (Stripple and Pattberg, 2010, p. 142). As noted by Hofferberth (2017, 2019), global governance research has so far focused on the structural effects of corporate agency, largely ignoring the actors themselves. As a consequence, ‘we only have a limited understanding of what constitutes [MNCs] and their agency in the first place and how they sustain their agency in light of changing expectations’ (Hofferberth, 2017, p. 140).…”

Barking Up the Right Tree? NGOs and Corporate Power for Deforestation-Free Supply Chains

“…Although such statements are rhetorical in nature, they "express particular meanings and self-understandings" [84] (p. 152). Based on this new self-perception, MNCs increasingly pro-actively engage with initiatives such as AFi and Trase and are keen to learn more about implementation tools.…”