Corporate social responsibility projects to supports multinational enterprises' reputation building efforts in Mexico

• Published date: 01 May 2022
• Author: Anil Yasin Ar,Asad Abbas
• Date: 01 May 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2495

ACADEMIC PAPER

Corporate social responsibility projects to supports

multinational enterprises' reputation building efforts in Mexico

Anil Yasin Ar

1

| Asad Abbas

2

1

School of International Business and

Logistics, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus

Queretaro, Santiago de Queretaro, Querétaro,

Mexico

2

Writing Lab, TecLabs, Tecnologico de

Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico

Correspondence

Anil Yasin Ar, School of International Business

and Logistics, Tecnologico de Monterrey,

Campus Queretaro, Epigmenio González

500, San Pablo, Santiago de Queretaro,

Queretaro 76130, Mexico.

Email: anil.y.ar@tec.mx

Asad Abbas, Writing Lab, TecLabs,

Vicerrectoría de Investigación y Transferencia

de Tecnología, Tecnologico de Monterrey,

Monterrey, Nuevo León 64849, Mexico.

Email: asad.abbas@tec.mx

This paper aims to investigate how foreign multinational enterprises' (MNEs) corpo-

rate social responsibility (CSR) dealings in Mexico earn them positive acknowledg-

ment as well as recognition in the host country setting. Through the lens of Mexico

as a host country, this study illustrates MNEs' CSR approach in Mexico via utilizing

leading company cases; such as, PepsiCo, Samsung, and Safran. Case resources for

the paper are drawn from the CSR reports that are posted by the chosen MNE's

quarterly communications and their CSR reports. This study offers a synopsis of

related CSR literature and insights on CSR agendas being pursued by the aforemen-

tioned companies. The findings of the study stimulate CSR related discussions in

international business and management fields; and, offer useful insight for the man-

agers who are working in MNEs in Mexico.

1|INTRODUCTION

In the late 1990s, scholars postulate that “there is no reason to think

that shareholders are willing to tolerate an amount of corporate non-

profit activitywhich appreciably reduceseither dividends or the market

performance of the stock”(Hetherington, 1973, p. 37). Initiation with

any activity that is not generating any financial gain would be fringed

upon. Hence, upuntil recent years, corporate social responsibility (CSR)

and related projects (CSRPs) were long neglected. Recently, the trajec-

tory of mainstream researchers and business practices shift in favor to

CSR and CSRPs (Shea & Hawn, 2019). The shift of the interest born

due to the rise of multinational enterprises' (MNEs) awareness to a

point, which theystart to realize engaging CSRand CSRPs may provide

sustainable competitive advantage via penetration to “networks”

(North, 1990), formal or informal, and ease the integration to the host

country market(Jeong & Kim, 2019; Orlitzky,2013).

In the early 2000s, CSR and CSRPs are defined as “discretionary

corporate activity[ies] intended to further social welfare”

(Barnett, 2007, p. 795). It was to encapsulate benefits of CSR to the

society via businesses strategies. However, this understanding was far

behind the holistic understanding of CSR and CSRPs. It fails to recog-

nize and explain the economic aspects and impacts of these initiations

not only in termsof society, but also strategy buildingefforts of MNEs.

Last 5 years or so, managers and academics alike, witness a fur-

ther iteration. This iteration suggests that “CSR is nothing but maxi-

mizing the value of your company over a long period of time, because

in the long term, social and environmental issues become financial

issues”(Ignatius & McGinn, 2015). This perspective brought financial

soundness to the CSR without sacrificing benefits of networks and

further integration with society. However, there are only few studies

that investigates how may CSRPs support or provide benefits to

MNE's in their business dealings while creating positive impact on

society in emerging market context, such as Mexico.

1

Majority of the CSR-oriented studies on this topic has concen-

trated on examining the relationship between CSRand corporate finan-

cial performance in advance country contexts (Campbell, 2007;Shea&

Hawn, 2019; Zhao, Tan, & Park, 2013). In a recent study, Wang, Riki,

and Gerard (2016) emphasized that there is a need for studies to con-

tribute Non-U.S. and non-advance country-based studies that explains

the link amongCSR, MNEs, and society. Motivated to aid this need,this

study investigates whether or not involvement with CSRP projectspro-

vide a competitive advantage to an MNE, which may support and fur-

ther their businessactivities in the host country,Mexico.

[Correction Statement: Correction added on 06 October 2020 after first online publication:

The abstract has been updated in this version of the article.]

Received: 29 May 2020 Accepted: 12 September 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2495

J Public Affairs. 2022;22:e2495. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1of8

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2495