University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

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years or more, the demand became more active. On the other hand, there is no
evidence that specifically the supply of CR by the case company created the demand.
Therefore this working proposition cannot be validated. However, under similar
industry conditions (first mover situation) and macro-conditions (rising awareness in
environmental issues) that the case company had, the proposition could be partly
supported.
It was found that if the demand responds to the supply of CR, there is a time delay
between action and perception of three to four years. Hence it could be deduced that
if a demand for corporate responsibility does not exist, firms can hasten its
emergence by supplying corporate responsibility.
Table 1. Revised and supported propositions.
Discussion
The purpose of this research was to explore and analyze the possible strategic
implications of CR with a model building approach. The findings suggest that to a
large extent corporate responsibility can be a strategic issue. However, a strategically
successful position requires other attributes than merely a responsible image.
Corporate responsibility can increase both cost efficiency by saving natural resources
and increase differentiation by adding value to a firm through favourable image
creation. Accordingly it seems that a firm can enhance its competitive position with
CR. However, the model is not committed to that argument even though the question
is related to the research problem. Instead, the following model (Figure 1) describes
how a firm can differentiate itself with corporate responsibility (CR) and in particular
with environmental responsibility.