Strategic Implementation of CSR - A Driver for Organizational Resilience?
(2022) BUSN09 20221Department of Business Administration
- Abstract (Swedish)
- CSR has been gaining significance in the field of strategic management, as growing societal expectations have resulted in additional pressures for firms to act responsibly. Particularly the heightened sense of urgency regarding environmental sustainability has further amplified this development. Simultaneously, the global business landscape is changing at an accelerated pace and in an unprecedented manner, which requires firms to attain organizational resilience in order to cope with unexpected challenges. Consequently, firms must consider dynamic and potentially conflicting stakeholder interests while navigating through increasingly turbulent operating environments to ensure their economic viability and long-term survival.
This thesis... (More) - CSR has been gaining significance in the field of strategic management, as growing societal expectations have resulted in additional pressures for firms to act responsibly. Particularly the heightened sense of urgency regarding environmental sustainability has further amplified this development. Simultaneously, the global business landscape is changing at an accelerated pace and in an unprecedented manner, which requires firms to attain organizational resilience in order to cope with unexpected challenges. Consequently, firms must consider dynamic and potentially conflicting stakeholder interests while navigating through increasingly turbulent operating environments to ensure their economic viability and long-term survival.
This thesis contributes to the literature on both CSR and organizational resilience, with a qualitative study exploring the underlying relationship between the two concepts. The aim of this research is to examine how a firm’s strategic CSR approach impacts its organizational resilience capabilities. Hereby, this study answers the calls of scholars to investigate the less tangible and long-term benefits of CSR as well as potential antecedents for organizational resilience. A multiple-case study was conducted, utilizing four incumbent manufacturers in the automotive industry as case companies. For the primary data collection, semi-structured interviews were held.
By synthesizing the previous body of knowledge and the empirical findings of this study, a framework was created that displays five factors resulting from strategic CSR and which organizational resilience capabilities they enhance for the case companies. It was found that monitoring the environment and stakeholder dialogue are facilitating factors for the capability to (1) anticipate and plan. Further, the factors mitigating internal resistance, agility and adaptability, and strategic partnerships positively influence the capability to (2) manage and survive. While no factors improving the capability to (3) learn and grow were found, this capability was shown to be indirectly improved by strategic CSR through the facilitation of the first two capabilities. Hence, this study contributes to theory by establishing a sound understanding of how strategic CSR increases organizational resilience in the examined context. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9088341
- author
- Fischer, Tobias LU and Schaper, Finn Niclas LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BUSN09 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Strategic CSR, Organizational Resilience, Capabilities, Environmental Sustainability, Automotive Industry
- language
- English
- id
- 9088341
- date added to LUP
- 2022-07-01 15:28:42
- date last changed
- 2022-07-01 15:28:42
@misc{9088341,
abstract = {{CSR has been gaining significance in the field of strategic management, as growing societal expectations have resulted in additional pressures for firms to act responsibly. Particularly the heightened sense of urgency regarding environmental sustainability has further amplified this development. Simultaneously, the global business landscape is changing at an accelerated pace and in an unprecedented manner, which requires firms to attain organizational resilience in order to cope with unexpected challenges. Consequently, firms must consider dynamic and potentially conflicting stakeholder interests while navigating through increasingly turbulent operating environments to ensure their economic viability and long-term survival.
This thesis contributes to the literature on both CSR and organizational resilience, with a qualitative study exploring the underlying relationship between the two concepts. The aim of this research is to examine how a firm’s strategic CSR approach impacts its organizational resilience capabilities. Hereby, this study answers the calls of scholars to investigate the less tangible and long-term benefits of CSR as well as potential antecedents for organizational resilience. A multiple-case study was conducted, utilizing four incumbent manufacturers in the automotive industry as case companies. For the primary data collection, semi-structured interviews were held.
By synthesizing the previous body of knowledge and the empirical findings of this study, a framework was created that displays five factors resulting from strategic CSR and which organizational resilience capabilities they enhance for the case companies. It was found that monitoring the environment and stakeholder dialogue are facilitating factors for the capability to (1) anticipate and plan. Further, the factors mitigating internal resistance, agility and adaptability, and strategic partnerships positively influence the capability to (2) manage and survive. While no factors improving the capability to (3) learn and grow were found, this capability was shown to be indirectly improved by strategic CSR through the facilitation of the first two capabilities. Hence, this study contributes to theory by establishing a sound understanding of how strategic CSR increases organizational resilience in the examined context.}},
author = {{Fischer, Tobias and Schaper, Finn Niclas}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Strategic Implementation of CSR - A Driver for Organizational Resilience?}},
year = {{2022}},
}