Taming a wicked problem? Unilever’s Interpretations of Corporate Social Responsibility 2000–2012

Mees-Buss, Jacqueline; Welch, Catherine

doi:10.1108/s1745-8862(2013)0000008017

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…It could be that there are certain businesses and industries, stages in the business cycles, cultural or institutional conditions of home and host countries, where and when an ethnocentric global strategy is not only potentially beneficial, but highly appropriate and preferable. For example, Unilever, which Mees‐Buss () has termed the “neo‐global corporation,” operates in highly competitive global consumer markets facing continuous pressure for cost savings and maximum effectiveness in its global organization. This mature MNC, which Bartlett and Ghoshal () labelled a transnational corporation back in the 1980s, may be well served by a new kind of ethnocentrism with recentralized decision making and standardized practices.…”

Section: Where Do We Go From Here? Implications For Global Strategy Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This mature MNC, which Bartlett and Ghoshal () labelled a transnational corporation back in the 1980s, may be well served by a new kind of ethnocentrism with recentralized decision making and standardized practices. The study by Mees‐Buss () clearly shows that the transnational corporation associated with a geocentric management approach is not the endpoint in the evolution of MNCs.…”

Section: Where Do We Go From Here? Implications For Global Strategy Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rethinking Ethnocentrism in International Business Research

Michailova

Piekkari

Storgaard

et al. 2017

Global Strategy Journal

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Research summary For nearly five decades, international business (IB) research in general and the literature on organizational design and staffing of multinationals in particular have treated ethnocentrism mainly as an adverse attribute. Limited attention has been paid to the disciplines that originally established the concept—anthropology, sociology, and psychology. These disciplines have examined ethnocentrism as a positive, neutral, or negative phenomenon with a complex hierarchical structure. IB literature, in turn, has almost exclusively adopted a negative view, suggesting that ethnocentrism hinders adoption of a global strategy. This article borrows insights from the three base disciplines to rethink the concept of ethnocentrism in IB research and to draw implications for global strategy research. The article also calls for a more careful borrowing of concepts from other disciplines. Managerial summary This article is about ethnocentrism. Ethnocentric people tend to believe that their group, organization, culture, or ethnicity is superior to others. Ethnocentrism can exist in international business, for instance, where home country staff consider themselves superior to foreign staff in other countries. In international business research, ethnocentrism is usually considered undesirable, something that should be eliminated. However, sociology, anthropology, and psychology, where the concept was originally established, have adopted a wider, far more nuanced and intellectually richer view that also acknowledges the neutrality and benefits of ethnocentrism. We draw on this more refined view to rethink ethnocentrism in international business and show implications for global strategy research.

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Section: Where Do We Go From Here? Implications For Global Strategy Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Where Do We Go From Here? Implications For Global Strategy Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking Ethnocentrism in International Business Research

Michailova

Piekkari

Storgaard

et al. 2017

Global Strategy Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Our results also suggest that, besides LTO, an important factor that contributes to the CSR of a SME is its deliberate strategy formation mode. The finding, presenting the third contribution to the literature, is perhaps the most controversial one, as many authors consider that CSR is a “wicked” problem (Lepoutre et al , 2007; Mees-Buss and Welch, 2014), for which emergent and flexible strategies are more suitable (Neugebauer et al , 2016). However, it should be noted that we do not suggest that CSR should be tackled through deliberate strategies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term orientation and corporate social responsibility in small and medium-sized enterprises: the role of strategy formation mode

Rosecká,

Machek,

Stasa

et al. 2023

SRJ

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Purpose This study aims to explore the effects of long-term orientation (LTO) and strategy formation mode on corporate social responsibility. While many researchers have investigated how large businesses address corporate social responsibility (CSR), there is little empirical evidence on how small- and medium-sized businesses implement CSR or what individual drivers shape this process. Design/methodology/approach The paper surveyed 282 small and medium-sized managers from the United Kingdom. The respondents were recruited using platform Prolific Academic. Findings The findings reveal that LTO is a prerequisite for developing CSR and shapes strategy formation mode. The findings also suggested that deliberate strategies are positively related to CSR. The results are consistent across different components of LTO (futurity, continuity and perseverance) and CSR types (internal and external). Originality/value The results show that all aspects of LTO are relevant for CSR in SMEs. Besides LTO, deliberate strategy formation model is an important factor contributing to CSR. The paper presents as first an empirical contribution to the strategy literature by examining positive relationship between LTO and deliberate strategy formation mode.

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