Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives Across the Value Chain

• Date: 01 May 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.22161
• Published date: 01 May 2016

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© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI 10.1002/jcaf.22161

This article was originally published in Volume 24, Number 3 of The Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance.

15

© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI 10.1002/jcaf.21840

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Dennis Caplan, Saurav K. Dutta, and Raef A. Lawson

Corporate social

responsibil-

ity (CSR) has

become essential for

the long-term viability

of businesses (Dutta,

Lawson, & Marcinko,

2010). CSR initiatives

are critical for compa-

nies, although the ben-

efits are often difficult

to quantify. This senti-

ment is exemplified

by Unilever’s CEO Paul Polman,

in his CSR report: “… for those

things which we find hard to put

a price on—biodiversity, carbon,

natural capital—the market has

failed us.” Essentially, this view

requires companies to critically

evaluate their roles and explore

ways to further corporate objec-

tives in this domain.

Value chain analysis (Porter,

1985), as discussed below, is

widely recognized as a use-

ful management framework for

exploring strategies to further

a corporation’s economic goals

and to evaluate its economic

risks. Dutta and Lawson (2008)

explored the impact of the car-

bon footprint through the value

chain on management decisions.

In this article, we extend that

approach to analyze CSR efforts

undertaken by large corpora-

tions. These efforts may not be

confined to the organization, but

can extend upstream to suppliers

or downstream to customers. An

analysis and comparison of such

efforts across companies and

industries can provide insight

into how various industries and

companies prioritize their social

objectives and the mechanisms

they believe are best suited to

achieve these goals. Such an

analysis aids in setting bench-

marks and best practices within

and across industries. Further, it

enables stakeholders to evaluate

financial implications of corpo-

rate strategy on CSR and thereby

assess the management type and

consequent regulatory actions

(Dutta, Lawson, & Marcinko,

2012).

An organization

that limits its CSR

initiatives to efforts

undertaken within the

organization may not

be fully exploiting its

stature, power, and

influence to encour-

age and coordinate

such initiatives across

the value chain for

greater social good.

This article studies

the CSR initiatives of prominent

companies in four industries:

Automobiles•

Computers and electronics•

Food and beverage•

Oil and gas•

We examine the instances

where CSR efforts extend

beyond organizational boundar-

ies and involve both upstream

and downstream partners. Our

sample includes companies that

are global leaders in their indus-

tries and based in Europe, Asia,

and the United States.

Corporate engagement with

CSR efforts is occurring at the

highest levels of corporate lead-

ership. The CEOs of most For-

tune 500 companies address CSR

in their letters to stakeholders

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is more than

an altruistic ideal: It is increasingly considered a

business imperative that should help drive organi-

zational strategy. This article explores how compa-

nies manage their CSR efforts along their upstream

and downstream value chains, documenting dif-

ferences across industries and between U.S. and

foreign organizations.

© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Initiatives Across the Value Chain

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