Transnational firms, particularly large and visible ones, are coming under increasing pressure from governments, civil society, consumers, and even other firms to demonstrate that they operate their business in a socially responsible way. This pressure, however, has often come in a dizzying array of forms. Norms of sustainability, for example, are widely disseminated, but not well-defined, while human rights duties are often more specific but traditionally written with states rather than firms in mind. It is therefore not surprising that corporate social responsibility (CSR) norms and practices have developed unevenly across CSR issue areas, countries and individual firms.
This paper seeks to shed light on how firms have translated these increasingly prominent demands for social responsibility into corporate policy and practice. To this end, the paper evaluates the results of a content analysis of approximately 50 firms from the US and Europe in a variety of sectors. The content analysis examines which areas of CSR firms address in their reports and the extent to which their policies are influenced by global norms embedded in prominent CSR initiatives such as the UN Global Compact and management standards like ISO 14001. In addition we draw on the concept of ‘implementation likelihood’ developed by Ans Kolk to try to discern the extent to which words are being translated into deeds by the firms under scrutiny and how factors such as a firm’s political and social environment influences these practices. The results of the content analysis serve as a pilot study for a larger project on how firms engage with CSR initiatives and politics more broadly.
