How Managers in Multinational Corporations perceive Stakeholders and Societal Responsibilities

The stakeholder approach has become a popular perspective in mainstream management and corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature. However, it remains an open question how real‐life managers actually view their stakeholders and what rationales are used for making judgments about their relative importance. This article will try to answer these questions by examining who managers in multinational corporations (MNCs) consider as their stakeholders and how they value them. It is concluded that managers still tend to hold a rather narrow (managerial) view of the firm and primarily give priority to stakeholder groups which are directly involved in the core transformation system. The conclusions are derived from interviews and surveys of in total 662 managers in four MNCs. The data is collected as part of RESPONSE: a large EU‐ and corporate‐funded initiative on corporate social responsibility (CSR)

The impact of gender, education and age on employee attitudes towards corporate social responsibility

Engaging employees can have a positive effect on turnover reduction, client satisfaction, company profitability, innovation and growth. Engaging employees in corporate social responsibility (CSR) can also generate positive impactson environment and society. To do this, companies need to understand their employees' CSR attitudes. In this regard, many studies show that individual characteristics can influence CSR attitudes. This research aims to identify the influence of three sociodemographic characteristics such as gender, educational level and age on three employee CSR attitudes, such as CSR demandingness, CSR trust and CSR satisfaction. This analysis is carried out by examining eleven banks operating in the Italian banking sector. Employees' CSR attitudes are measured comparing banks' CSR disclosure with employees' CSR perceptions and CSR expectations. The findings of this research suggest that bank employees are generally very demanding in terms of CSR efforts andthat, although they are trustful in CSR performance, they are not completely satisfied with it. In particular, employee gender has a significant influence on CSR trust and CSR satisfaction, with male employees generally more trustful andsatisfied than female colleagues. Educational level differences also have a significant influence on CSR trust and CSR satisfaction, with graduated employees generally more trustful and satisfied than not graduated colleagues. However, employee gender and education do not influence CSR demandingness, and employee age does not have a significant effect on any CSR attitude.This research indicates that the banks under study need to improve the effectiveness of their internal CSR communication, especially with women and not graduated employees, who show the lowest levels of CSR trust andsatisfaction.This study is therefore to provide a novel method for assisting CSR researchers and practitioners in better understanding employees' CSR attitudes, and, consequently, achieving a greater effectiveness and efficiency of CSR strategies

Business Model Opportunities and Barriers for Fashion Libraries

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore barriers and opportunities for business models based on the ideas of collaborative consumption within the fashion industry. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis is based on a multiple-­‐‑case study of Scandinavian fashion libraries – a new, clothes-­‐‑sharing concept that has emerged as a fashion niche within the last decade. Findings: It is concluded that fashion libraries offers interesting perspectives, e.g. by allowing people to experiment with styles without having to pay the full cost and becoming a meeting place for young designers and end consumers. However, at present fashion libraries remain a small-­‐‑scale phenomenon with difficulties reaching the mainstream market, not least due to limited financial and human resources as well as conventional fashion consumption patterns. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited to the new phenomenon of fashion libraries and does not cover other types of collaborative consumption within the fashion industry (Swap-­‐‑parties, etc.). Originality/value: The paper is one of the first attempts to examine new business models of collaborative consumption in general and the fashion library concept in particular. The study contributes to the discussions of whether and how fashion sharing and collaboration holds promise as a viable business model and as a means to promote sustainability

Toward Collaborative Cross-Sector Business Models for Sustainability

Sustainability challenges typically occur across sectoral boundaries, calling the state, market, andcivil society to action. While consensus exists on the merits of cross-sector collaboration, ourunderstanding of whether and how it can create value for various, collaborating stakeholders is still limited. This Special Issue focuses on how new combined knowledge on cross-sector collaboration and business models for sustainability can inform the academic and practitioner debates about sustainability challenges and solutions. We discuss how cross-sector collaboration can play an important role for the transition to new and potentially sustainability-driving business models given that value creation, delivery and capture of organizations are intimately related to the collaborative ties with their stakeholders. Sustainable alternatives to conventional business models tend to adopt a more holistic perspective of business by broadening the spectrum of solutions and stakeholders and, when aligned with cross-sector collaboration, can contribute new ways of addressing the wicked sustainability problems humanity faces

Partnerskaber mellem virksomheder og NGOer – Når organisationer taler med og forbi hinanden

Denne artikel belyser virksomheder og frivillige organisationers (NGOers) syn på partnerskaber. Artiklens grundlæggende antagelse er, at én af årsagerne til samarbejdsproblemer skal findes i deltagernes forskellige opfattelser af, hvad partnerskaber er, og hvad de skal bruges til. Virksomhederne og NGOernes oplevelse af partnerskaber undersøges ved hjælp af to spørgeskemaundersøgelser, der blev gennemført i forbindelse med konferencen »CSR2010-NGO meets Business« i september 2010. 552 virksomheder (75%) og 188 NGOer (25%) besvarede spørgeskemaet. Undersøgelsen indikerer, at virksomheder og NGOer ser forskelligt på, hvorfor førstnævnte arbejder med CSR, ligesom de to grupper af respondenter tilsyneladende ikke har den samme oplevelse af partnerskabernes grad af forpligtelse. Resultaterne understreger betydningen af behovsafstemning i forbindelse med etableringen af partnerskaber mellem virksomheder og NGOer

A PreCare Report

This report provides an overview of Pay for Success, an innovative financing and contracting model for improving social outcomes, and suggests that it both aligns with and furthers the tenants of value-based healthcare. Whilst PFS has been under-utilized in the healthcare sector, the literature demonstrates that there are a number of reasons to use a PFS or PFS-inspired approach to assess the feasibility of innovative health services, including improving outcomes, leveraging innovative public private partnerships sharing of innovation risk, and accessing new sources of capital to invest in social programs, among others

From Singular to Plural: Exploring Organisational Complexities and Circular Business Model Design

The aim of this article is to discuss how organisational complexities influence the design of circular business models, which have recently been introduced as a new panacea for aligning the interests of business with the needs of the environment. Design/methodology/approach: The Service Shirt, a new garment concept, is used as an illustrative case example for demonstrating some of the organisational complexities of making circular business models operable. The shirt was developed through a series of design workshops for the fashion brand Fashion Alpha. Findings: The analysis highlights multiple challenges emerging when a fashion product with a significantly extended lifecycle passes through different users, organisations, and business models. It is concluded that it is difficult to talk about a circular business model (singular) as circular economy solutions depend on the contributions of multiple stakeholders with business models. Practical implications: The findings illustrate how fashion companies interested in the circular economy fundamentally have to rethink conventional approaches to value, organisational boundaries, and temporality. Originality/value: Drawing on a case example from the fashion industry, the paper demonstrates the organisational complexities linked to the design of new business models based on circular economy thinking, as these require the coordination of actions between autonomous actors driven by different logics regarding value creation, value delivery, and value capture