University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

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role, especially in the 1990s, by launching various campaigns and social partnership
programs which are aimed at motivating corporations to participate more actively.
The trade unions, which culminated from the establishment of public employment
service (AF) and the set‐up of regional and national tripartite councils in the late
1960s, also played a significant role during the 1990s, providing the platform for
employees to negotiate in collective bargaining with public employers which
subsequently also extended to private employers (Mailand and Andersen, 2001).
These were also most likely the seeds of the concept of social partnership.
The Ministry of Social Affairs was active in fostering social partnerships between
corporations and the communities. The government realising the need to garner the
strengths from exemplary corporations, formed an advisory body to the Minister of
Social Affairs, in 1996. This was named as the National Network of Company
Leaders, which consisted of fifteen leaders from the most admired Danish companies,
with the objective of limiting social exclusion and increasing integration on the
labour market (Mahler et al. 2009). In 1997, the Danish government, under the
direction of the then Minister of Social Affairs, Karen Jespersen, hosted an
international corporate social responsibility conference in Copenhagen, which led to
the establishment of The Copenhagen Centre in 1998, with the objective of
developing social partnerships across Europe (Jespersen 2003). Under the same
Ministry, The Social Council, a national multipartite body, was set up with the
intention of advising the Minister and to guide municipalities and associated Social
Co‐ordination Committees in social policy issues (Mahler et al. 2009).
In contrast to the CSR policy as framed by the Ministry of Social Affairs, namely
one focusing on social inclusion and adequate labour supply, the current government
policy is more or less moved to the auspices of the Ministry of Economic and
Business Affairs and focuses on competitiveness and economic growth (Ryberg,
2008). This change manifested itself in 2006 with the launch of the project People &
Profit headed by the Danish Commerce and Companies Agency (DCCA).
The definition currently given by the DCCA, under the Danish Ministry of Economic
and Business, is that “CSR is a concept whereby companies integrate social and
environmental concerns in their business operations and in interaction with their
stakeholders on a voluntary basis”. The World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (WBSCD) gives a more thorough explanation, “Corporate social
responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to contribute to economic
development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families
as well as of the community and society at large.” This includes a continuity element
which is more agreeable to the authors’ interpretation of CSR, in that business should
be consistent in their efforts to improve their performance in being socially
responsible. Aside from this, businesses should also endeavour not only to ensure
economic profitability but they should also improve the lives of the communities that
they are in contact with.
In terms of international partnerships, the Danish government is also seen as an
active advocate for the inclusion of the public and also access to information. The
Danish government was the host for the Aarhus Convention, which is the UNECE1
Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision‐making and
Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. This was signed in 1998 and was