RESPONSE - Insead

Recommendations Recommendations for policy and standards
Exhibit 1. Desk Research and Field Visit Protocol
The information gathered during the desk research covers two areas two parts:
1. A description of the company, which is based on publicly available information (i.e. desk
research). In the “Research model”, this part is related to the Environmental and many of the
Corporate level factors eventually explaining the magnitude of cognitive gaps and of motivation to
act responsibly.
2. A description of the company’s CSR work, which is based on data collection at the company (i.e.
the fact finding day). In the “Research model”, this corresponds to the description of the CSR
process, and of the cognitive gaps and of motivations they have. The fact finding day, though,
can provide precious information of explanatory factors as well, such as the founding conditions
and the evolution of the company, its history of environmental and social accidents and the way
they were managed, etc.
1) The company
a. Key Activities:
­ Products produced and/or services delivered
­ geographic markets covered
­ customer segments covered
b. Origins:
­ Original products/services
­ Founders’ profile: the entrepreneurial idea, their level of sensitivity for social issues,
their legacy within the company today
­ Vision and Mission: why was the company created? How was it supposed to be “useful
for the world”?
­ Brief historical overview of how the company “philosophy” (vision, purpose, mission)
evolved over time
c. Values/principles: (probe with HR and CSR manager)
­ Current articulation of what they believe are the core principles guiding their activity
­ Evolution of the espoused values
d. Strategy: (probe with strategy/marketing manager)
­ What is the current articulation of their competitive strategy? How do they think they
can outcompete rivals?
­ Do they aim to be the most cost efficient competitors (low price)? Or are they aiming to
distinguish themselves for the quality and uniqueness of their products (high price)?
­ What do they see as their competitive strengths and weaknesses? What can they do
better than their competitors? What do they do worse than average?
­ What is their strategy­making process? Is it just a strategic planning exercise for
budget allocation purpose or there are also full discussions of problems, alternative
solutions, implementation priorities?
­ To what extent and is CSR brought within the picture? Probe for examples to see if
there is a real integration of CSR in the strategy debate.
­ How did their strategy change over time? Through what process? Is the change
through continuous marginal adjustments or with rare but radical shifts?
­ Why did the changes occur? What stimulated them? Anything to do with stakeholder
responsibility?
e. Corporate Governance: (CSR Manager, or other senior manager)
­ Current rules of corporate governance:
RESPONSE: understanding and responding to societal demands on corporate responsibility
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