The New Presence of China in Africa

180 Peter Knorringa
isting regulations, laws, conventions and standards), 2. Risk minimization (safeguard
brand-name goodwill and company reputation by moving beyond mere
compliance) and, 3. Value creation (using CSR activities as a way to compete and
essentially differentiate oneself from other companies that offer similar products)
(Nelson, 2000: 28). One might argue that “mere” compliance with existing regulations
should not be seen as a strategic CSR activity. However, there is more to
compliance than initially meets the eye. Regulations are continuously changing,
regulations differ by country (and does one take the country of consumption or of
production as point of departure?), and regulations can be adhered to by following
either the letter or the spirit of the regulation. Moreover, the really significant
improvements in the reach of responsible production are made through small
improvements that are incorporated by large groups of companies, and by far
most companies can be situated under the heading of “1. Compliance”. Therefore,
so-called “active” compliance behavior is to be seen as a strategic CSR activity.
The three strategic CSR strategies are often visualized as a pyramid, where
firms aiming for compliance form the large base of the pyramid, a smaller group
of companies with brand-names aim at risk minimization, and an even smaller
group of companies uses their responsible behavior as a key competitive tool.
This categorization gains a dynamic perspective by adding the Norm Life Cycle
model, a useful tool to analyze the process of how new norms can become
mainstreamed (Finnemore and Sikkink, 1998: 898). 6 They distinguish three stages:
norm emergence, norm cascading, and norm internalization, with a key role
assigned to the “norm tipping” that takes place between the first and second stage
(Segerlund, 2005: 5). In the first stage of norm emergence, altruism, empathy,
idealism and commitment are seen as the main motives for “norm entrepreneurs”
to push, for example, for better labor standards. This refers to the frontrunners
in responsible production, in particular the various types of Fair Trade initiatives.
Moreover, it also includes those firms that really use their image of responsibility
to create value (a well-known example is The Body Shop).
Once a certain critical mass of key companies have adopted such a norm,
“norm tipping” brings us to the second stage of norm cascading in which legitimacy,
reputation, and esteem become the main motives of companies to join what
is now seen as “the right thing to do”. This is also where risk minimization comes
in. A-brand companies start seeing they need to invest in boosting their responsibility
image, in order not to “fall behind” those firms who used to be seen as
frontrunners but are now increasingly setting the new level of expected responsible
behavior.
In the third stage of norm internalization, the new norm has become a generally
accepted minimal standard that all participants need to conform to, and
at this stage, for example, new laws on minimum labor standards can further