University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

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The most visible parts of the critical public at the moment are NGOs. They express
demands and threaten companies with scandalisation and loss of reputation. The
power of NGOs is based on their influence on the public (as customers). Customers
potentially have the fastest and most direct influence on companies. It comes as no
surprise that they are identified as the most important stakeholders in nearly every
survey. It has to be stated, however, that customers currently offer only very little
rewards for companies with superior CR-performance. The majority doesn’t feel
responsible themselves, is often poorly informed, not endowed with the financial
room for manoeuvre and/or stuck in consumption routines (Eckert et al. 2007,
Chatzidakis et al. 2007). The stated willingness to consider social and ecological
issues in consumption is far from being observable on the markets (the same can be
said about the biggest customer: the state, RNE 2008). It is primarily scandalisation
that triggers reactions in the form of (temporary) sanctions.
An additional driver for CR, that is becoming more and more important, is Socially
Responsible Investing (SRI). A growing number of private and institutional investors
consider social and ecological aspects. Even though, with respect to the total amount
of financial assets the SRI market is still relatively small it has increased constantly
in every country and grown faster then conventional markets in recent years
(Tometschek 2008).
The stakeholder demands are in line with the (especially) European scientific
discourse on CR, focussing on the way profits are generated and not the way profits
are used. CR is considered a part of the core business. Corporate giving and
sponsoring are creditable but the centre of CR is not „do good“, but „first, do no
harm“ (Palazzo 2008). A socially and ecologically responsible performance
throughout the complete supply chain is expected.
In this context business tries to protect and regain their “license to operate”. CR
becomes the business case especially for larger companies that experience
stakeholder pressure much more than SMEs. First, the global capital markets are
much more relevant for (listed) major enterprises than for SMEs. Second, NGOs
pose a much bigger threat for larger multinational companies, because effective
scandalisation and mobilisation of market power especially works if there is a wellknown
target. Despite efforts to present themselves as actively responsible in most
cases CR is an instrument of defensive risk-minimisation (Viehhöfer et al. 2006).
Theoretical Framework and Methodology: The Importance
of Sensemaking
How companies or rather decision-makers perceive possibilities depends on a
multitude of internal and external factors. The question of how stakeholder influence
and supporting framework conditions influence these perceptions has to be analysed
in greater detail. People operate in a highly complex field of overlapping social
systems. Structures and individual actions are recursively connected (Giddens 1984).