University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

Stakeholders
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From the field-level analyses, it appears that from the environmentalism movement,
that non-governmental organizations such as DN and NOAH played an important
role in raising environmental awareness, and thus paving the way for CSR
development within Denmark. However, apart from the organizations’ internal
motivation to contribute to society, the direction of CSR is generally more influenced
by the pressures from the international market. The international organizations such
as the UN Global Compact and GRI guidelines are also influential in that companies
are pressured into joining these organizations since they are global, and also their
guidelines are used by others for CSR reporting. The possible main reason for
Danish companies to engage in CSR is to retain and attract employees, thus
employees are also an important stakeholder. The government also contributed to
CSR development by launching social partnership programs, however, their
influence is not that large, mainly due to the fact that the decision-making in Danish
companies are usually done in a democratic manner, without government
intervention.
For China, the field-level analyses point to the dominant role that the government has.
The government is involved in almost all aspects, even in environmental issues. The
labour unions are considered extensions of the Chinese government’s influence and
some Chinese companies even regard labour unions as their main source of CSR
proposals. In Denmark, the environmentalism movement was sparked by student and
non-government groups, but in China, in conjunction with its open door policy, was
made susceptible to international pressures from organizations such as the UN. With
economic reforms, the Chinese government ventured overseas mainly to increase its
competitiveness, thus international market demands is an important factor in shaping
the direction of CSR. In summary, international organizations are deemed to be an
important stakeholder, although it is an indirect influence to the organizations.
Labour unions, as mentioned earlier are also influential.
Social Constructivism
For China, the influence of the government seems to be strong. The extent of their
influence is most conspicuous in the globalization level, in which the Chinese
corporations have the tendency to follow the directions of the government, by
implementing policies. The environmentalism movement in China, is also largely
due to government intervention. Therefore, the government is identified as the major
actor in the social construction process; hence its directives are explored further. In
line with the government’s goal of building a harmonious society, the current CSR
themes that are of utmost importance are labour issues and product quality. The
Chinese government plays a crucial role in dictating and exerting pressures on
corporations to abide by its laws. The fact that many of the large corporations in
China are actually state-owned makes it even harder for Chinese corporations to act
differently from the government’s will. Another important point is that the Chinese
corporations also do not have any reason to believe that the government’s directives
would be in any way harmful, due to their collectivistic behaviour in which they trust
that the government’s policies are for the good of the economy, and thus would