Emerging Market Multinationals and International Corporate Social Responsibility Standards: Bringing Animals to the Fore

Abstract

The literature presents a broad approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which aggregates a diversity of issues, such as the environment, labor conditions, and human rights. We addressed the impact of increasing CSR demands during the internationalization of emerging market multinationals (EMNs) on one particular subject, animal welfare (AW). This subject raises important ethical concerns, especially as we understand that animals are sentient beings. Through content analysis of annual reports, we tracked the evolution of AW-CSR activities throughout the internationalization of two large Brazilian meat-processing multinationals as they accessed markets with complex AW regulations. We also synthetized findings on broiler chicken on-farm AW research in Brazil and conducted interviews to gauge the impact of CSR standards on animals. Our findings show that, although EMNs that enter developed markets engage with various standards, the impacts of standard enforcement on actual welfare are not straightforward and call for broader AW and animal ethics developments. Uneven results among AW criteria indicate that some aspects are prioritized over others. Furthermore, some actions of actors such as EMNs and low-tier suppliers seem to counterbalance the expected impact of normative pressures to change the lives of animals for the better. We conclude that AW standards may improve AW in emerging markets; but these standards do not appear to be sufficiently stringent, and require improvements to have a more significant positive impact. A major signal emerging from this research is the fundamental need to broaden the animal ethics debate regarding the use of animals to produce meat.

Uncoupling Meat From Animal Slaughter and Its Impacts on Human-Animal Relationships

“…Although many scientific studies have proposed solutions to prevent animal welfare issues, they still persist and even major problems with simple solutions became normal in production systems ( Grandin, 2018 ). The intensive systems of pig and chicken industrial production are often related to poor living conditions for the animals, such as high stocking densities and early growth diseases ( Bessei, 2006 ), and even animal welfare certified systems may not present significant improvement for the animals ( Souza et al, 2015 ; Reis and Molento, 2019 ). Therefore, even though there may also be issues related to the extensive production systems ( Petherick, 2005 ), the intensification processes seem to intrinsically reduce the welfare of the animals.…”

“…Phillips (2015) has argued that it is not relative welfare that matters to animals, and therefore to us, but the absolute number of animals that are suffering worldwide. This is further argued by Phillips (2015) to be increasing, because more animal production uses small animals, so more are eaten; more are grown in developing countries without welfare standards and in intensive production systems (Reis and Molento, 2019); and demand for meat is increasing worldwide. While the major switch from slaughter-based to cell-based and plant-based meat consumptions will directly reduce farm animal suffering (quadrants III and IV), the animal ethics improvements will likely depend on decreasing the banalization of animal suffering (Singer, 1995), i.e., decreasing the present levels of desensitization regarding animals (quadrants I and IV).…”

Impact of Corporate Commitments to Source Cage-Free Eggs on Layer Hen Housing - Preregistration

“…Furthermore, a "rapid and complete change" [16, p2] in the industry toward higher welfare standards is attributed to a 2012 decision by several large retailers to discontinue carrying conventional broiler chicken meat in their stores. Reis and Molento [17] use content analysis of the annual reports of two major broiler producers and five semi-structured interviews to conclude that the European adoption of broiler chicken welfare standards may improve animal welfare. While these studies share limitations with the previously cited studies, the findings again support the role of corporate commitments in improving animal welfare and advocacy campaigns in achieving those commitments.…”

Corporate Social Responsibility of Export Organizations: Relation between Strategy, Activities and Communication on Foreign Markets

“…When export organizations move beyond their domestic market, they have to comply with internationally required safety, quality, and CSR standards [3]. Moreover, they face the issue of liability of foreignness [4], as of their non-native status in the foreign market, thus CSR can help them overcome this obstacle [5].…”