Corporate Legitimacy as Deliberation: A Communicative Framework

Modern society is challenged by a loss of efficiency in national governance systems values, and lifestyles. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) discourse builds upon a conception of organizational legitimacy that does not appropriately reflect these changes. The problems arise from the a-political role of the corporation in the concepts of cognitive and pragmatic legitimacy, which are based on compliance to national law and on relatively homogeneous and stable societal expectations on the one hand and widely accepted rhetoric assuming that all members of society benefit from capitalist production on the other. We therefore propose a fundamental shift to moral legitimacy, from an output and power oriented approach to an input related and discursive concept of legitimacy. This shift creates a new basis of legitimacy and involves organizations in processes of active justification vis-à-vis society rather than simply responding to the demands of powerful groups. We consider this a step towards the politicization of the corporation and attempt to re-embed the debate on corporate legitimacy into its broader context of political theory, while reflecting the recent turn from a liberal to a deliberative concept of democracy

Pathways to social value and social change: An integrative review of the social entrepreneurship literature

Social entrepreneurship has emerged as an important means of addressing grand challenges. Although research on the topic has accelerated, scholars have yet to articulate an overarching framework that links the different pathways taken by social entrepreneurs with the positive effects of these efforts. To address this shortcoming, we conducted a systematic literature review which enabled us to conceptually differentiate between social value and social change as distinct outcomes of social entrepreneurship and identify seven pathways for achieving these outcomes. Building on our analysis, we outline a research agenda for questions pertaining to: the dynamics between social value and social change; how contextual factors and social entrepreneurs influence various pathways; design principles of business models and innovations that facilitate social value and social change; and defining, measuring, and ensuring countability for social value and social chang

Global Rules and Private Actors: Toward a New Role of the Transnational Corporation in Global Governance

We discuss the role that transnational corporations (TNCs) should play in developing global governance, creating a framework of rules and regulations for the global economy. The central issue is whether TNCs should provide global rules and guarantee individual citizenship rights, or instead focus on maximizing profits. First, we describe the problems arising from the globalization process that affect the relationship between public rules and private firms. Next we consider the position of economic and management theories in relation to the social responsibility of the firm. We argue that instrumental stakeholder theory and business and society research can only partially solve the global governance issue, and that more recent concepts of corporate citizenship and republican business ethics deliver theoretically and practically helpful, fresh insights. However, even these need further development, especially with regard to the legitimacy of corporate political activity

HTD2: a single-crystal X-ray diffractometer for combined high-pressure/low-temperature experiments at laboratory scale

High-pressure (HP) X-ray diffraction experiments at low temperature (LT) require dedicated instruments as well as non-standard sample environments and measuring strategies. This is especially true when helium cryogenic temperatures below 80 K are targeted. Furthermore, only experiments on single-crystalline samples provide the prerequisites to study subtle structural changes in the p–T phase diagram under extreme LT and HP conditions in greater detail. Due to special hardware requirements, such measurements are usually in the realm of synchrotron beamlines. This contribution describes the design of an LT/HP diffractometer (HTD2) to perform single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments using a laboratory source in the temperature range 400 > T > 2 K while applying pressures of up to 20 GPa

The Organizational Implementation of Corporate Citizenship: An Assessment Tool and its Application at UN Global Compact Participants

The corporate citizenship (CC) concept introduced by Dirk Matten and Andrew Crane has been well received. To this date, however, empirical studies based on this concept are lacking. In this article, we flesh out and operationalize the CC concept and develop an assessment tool for CC. Our tool focuses on the organizational level and assesses the embeddedness of CC in organizational structures and procedures. To illustrate the applicability of the tool, we assess five Swiss companies (ABB, Credit Suisse, Nestlé, Novartis, and UBS). These five companies are participants of the UN Global Compact (UNGC), currently the largest collaborative strategic policy initiative for business in the world (www.unglobalcompact.org). This study makes four main contributions: (1) it enriches and operationalizes Matten and Crane’s CC definition to build a concept of CC that can be operationalized, (2) it develops an analytical tool to assess the organizational embeddedness of CC, (3) it generates empirical insights into how five multinational corporations have approached CC, and (4) it presents assessment results that provide indications how global governance initiatives like the UNGC can support the implementation of CC

Corporate Citizenship: Herausforderung für die Unternehmenskommunikation

„Corporate Citizenship“ ist in den vergangenen Jahren zum Schlagwort für unternehmerische Verantwortung avanciert. Der vorliegende Beitrag zeigt die Herausforderungen auf, die sich im Zuge eines Engagements als Corporate Citizen an die Unternehmung stellen. Die Art und Weise der Unternehmenskommunikation spielt bei der Umsetzung von Corporate Citizenship eine wesentliche Rolle. Besonders geeignet erscheint das Kommunikationsinstrument des Unternehmensdialogs. Dies wird anhand einer Fallstudie des Sportartikelherstellers Nike verdeutlicht, an der sich zeigen lässt, welche Formen der Unternehmenskommunikation auf dem Weg zur Legitimierung unternehmerischen Handelns ergriffen werden

Unternehmensethik für Professional Service Firms: Problemtatbestände und Lösungsansätze

"Die Wirtschaftsskandale der jüngsten Zeit werfen wieder einmal die Frage nach der gesellschaftlichen Verantwortung der Unternehmung auf. In der Kritik stehen dabei besonders die so genannten Professional Service Firms. Die Untersuchung von Managementsystemen und Anreizstrukturen in Unternehmensberatungen, Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaften und Investmentbanken zeigt sowohl empirisch als auch organisationstheoretisch begründbare Defizite bei der Ermöglichung und Durchsetzung einer kritischen ethischen Reflexion des Managementhandelns. Der vorliegende Artikel skizziert Problemtatbestände und Lösungsansätze und zeigt den Forschungsbedarf auf, der auf diesem Gebiet noch besteht." (Autorenreferat)"The current crisis of the world economic system and the lack of confidence in its capitalistic institutions are influenced by the ethical misconduct of professional service firms. In this article we consider the ethical behaviour and structures of professional service firms, e.g. consulting, auditing, investment analysis and banking and also executiv search companies. Our research shows empirically and theoretically derived deficits in management systems and incentive structures that are obstacles for critical reflection on ethical concerns. We draw some conclusions concerning organizational reform within these firms. Finally, an outlook on possible future research activities in this area is given." (author's abstract

Managing for political corporate social responsibility: new challenges and directions for PCSR 2.0 new challenges and directions for PCSR 2.0

This article takes stock of the discourse on ‘political CSR’ (PCSR), reconsiders some of its assumptions, and suggests new directions for what we call ‘PCSR 2.0’. We start with a definition of PCSR, focusing on firms’ contribution to public goods. We then discuss historical antecedents to the debate and outline the original economic and political context. The following section explores emerging changes in the institutional context relevant to PCSR and reconsiders some of the assumptions underlying Habermas’ thesis of the postnational constellation. This highlights some neglected issues in previous works on PCSR, including the influence of nationalism and fundamentalism, the role of various types of business organisations, the return of government regulation, the complexity of institutional contexts, the efficiency of private governance, the financialization and digitalization of the economy, and the relevance of managerial sensemaking. Finally, we discuss the contributions to this special issue and relate them to the newly emerging research agenda

Managing legitimacy in complex and heterogeneous environments: Sustainable development in a globalized world

The sustainability problems with regard to the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services increasingly challenge the legitimacy of corporations. The literature distinguishes three strategies that corporations commonly employ to respond to legitimacy problems: adapt to external expectations, manipulate the perception of their stakeholders, or engage in a discourse with those who question their legitimacy. We discuss three approaches to determine the appropriate response strategy: one-best-way approach, contingency approach, and paradox approach. We argue that in the face of heterogeneous environments with conflicting demands, corporations that follow a paradox approach are likely to be more successful in preserving their legitimacy than those that adopt one of the other two approaches. We develop a theoretical framework for the application of different response strategies and explore the management of paradoxes by way of structural, contextual, or reflective means