Authors: Linda O’Riordan Jenny Fairbrass
Publish Date: 2013/10/05
Volume: 125, Issue: 1, Pages: 121-145
Abstract
As concepts of corporate social responsibility CSR continue to evolve the predicament facing CSR managers when attempting to balance the differing interests of various stakeholders remains a persistent management challenge A review of the extensive literature in this field reveals that the conceptualisation of corporate approaches to responsible stakeholder management remains underdeveloped In particular CSR practices within the specific context of the pharmaceutical industry a sector which particularly dramatically depicts the stakeholder management dilemmas faced by business managers has been underresearched To address this gap this paper utilises qualitative exploratory data obtained via multiple research methods to investigate the CSR practices of major pharmaceutical companies in the UK and Germany The data are employed to critically reexamine and revise a previously published explanatory framework which identifies the management steps involved in CSR stakeholder engagement The resulting revised explanatory framework is the main contribution of this paper By abstracting those factors which influence CSR practice it provides an analytical tool which is designed to be of practical use for business decisionmakers when managing their stakeholder engagement activities Given that the research addresses values and ideals and prescribes practical recommendations for practitioners it is essentially applied and normative in nature Ultimately the framework proposes a set of steps for developing CSR strategies which could help CSR professionals to make a ‘mindset transition’ from a narrower ‘traditional’ approach to CSR to a more innovative way of thinking
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