University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

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survey was carried out by email correspondence which was distributed to a total of
47 employees from the Danfoss offices in Nordborg, Denmark. The respondents
were to submit their surveys directly to the researchers and thus their responses
would be afforded anonymity. A total of 28 employees responded to the
questionnaire survey, which is a 60% response rate.
Based on the findings, the angle particularly explored in this paper is with respect to
the development stage of CSR that the Danfoss Group is at. The CSR development
of the Danfoss Group can be partially analyzed through its available online materials.
Its CSR conduct is typified into two aspects: CSR Waves and CSR Modes. The
research of Chapple and Moon (2005) show that developed countries are usually at a
more advanced stage and thus their focus will mainly lie on the second or third CSR
wave. Consequently, the Danfoss Group is expected to be more engaged with the last
two Waves (Products & Processes and Employee Relations). This could then assist in
the identification of the most significant theme of events, which could be climate
change, economics, or any other events that may play the major role in shaping the
development of CSR practices within the Danfoss Group.
Through this analysis, the researchers would also be able to find out how much
weight the Danfoss Group places on the various dimensions of CSR (Environment,
Labour issues, Product Quality, Health and Safety, and etc.) and an idea of the
dimension or dimensions that are deemed more important to the organization. Based
on the Grant Thornton International business report (2008), Danish companies are
perceived to place more importance in labour issues, especially in retaining staff and
in attracting desirable employees. Is this true in Danfoss and does it remains so
despite the financial crisis? Furthermore, if the emphases have changed between
these dimensions, what are the factors that supported the change that the Danfoss
Group has gone through ever since the conception of CSR? What are the causes of
this change? Why did these changes occur; is it due to local or global events? Both
organisational and institutional theories would be beneficial in gaining an
understanding as to why organizations behave and react to these changes and also to
identify the factors that affords Danfoss the capacity to react.
CSR: Policies and Actions
The fact that Danish corporations are competing in the free‐market economy may
have some influence indictating the development of CSR (Hofstede 2000). The
global market continuously exerts pressures onorganizations to be socially
responsible and to be accountable for their actions (Jørgensen 2003). Coulson(2008)
contended that global issues such as climate change bring about both business risks
and opportunities,thus making it of interest for stakeholders to be informed of how
companies are responding to thesedevelopments. It is apparent then that stakeholders
also expect some form of formal reporting so thatinformation on the company is
made available.
These forces that exerts pressures on Danish organizations can be especially vital
when comparing withcorporations that thrive in economic environments that are not
as conducive; for example the past centrally planned economies of Russia and