University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

TOTAL
Promotion of several
initiatives to enhance local
communities’ dialogue and
involvement. Support to
small businesses and
training of local people.
Discusion
Systematic integration of
local content policies into
large projects; projects
designed on a case-by-case
basis, supported by a survey
on local industry and human
resources. Employment of
local contractors, hiring of
local workforce and training
of local technicians and
managers. Support for the
creation of small businesses.
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Risk assessment -
whose criteria
include security,
human rights and
political risks –
before every
investment
decision. Focus on
monitoring
situations to
anticipate crises.
Responsibility of
local managers for
the implementation
of group’s policy.
From society’s point of view, it is important to assess the contribution that oil and
gas companies and, more generally, multinational companies give to development, in
order to understand if such companies are effectively able to promote it and if CSR
may be reasonably seen as an alternative route for the delivery of development
(Frynas 2005; Jenkins 2005). The effectiveness of oil and gas as well as
multinational companies’ CSR initiatives has been increasingly questioned, since
“there is mounting evidence of a gap between the stated intentions of business
leaders and their actual behavior and impact in the real world” (Frynas 2005: 581).
Even though oil and gas companies’ sustainability reports describe a large number of
successful CSR projects undertaken in order to promote sustainable development in
Southern countries, it is difficult to evaluate the effective impacts of these initiatives.
Furthermore, the benchmark analysis shows some important limitations and
problems related to these CSR projects.
a. Values of Capitalist Enterprise
The clearest limitation relates to the fundamental values of the capitalist enterprises.
Blowfield (2005) asserts that “when we talk about values in relation to capitalist
enterprise, there is a difference between the values that are negotiable and those that
are not” (520). Non-negotiable values are: the right to make a profit, the universal
good of free trade, the freedom of capital, the supremacy of private property, the
commoditization of things including labor, the superiority of markets in determining
price and value, and the privileging of companies as citizens and moral entities. CSR
has no impact on these. Furthermore Blowfield (2005) underlines that “CSR has
fostered change in areas that business has been willing to negotiate over. Some of