Does country of origin matter for the quality and quantity of CSR activities done by a multinational corporation?

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Amsterdam Business School

Does country of origin matter for the quality and quantity of CSR activities done

by a multinational corporation?

Master thesis - MSc. Business Administration Final version

Author: Renske van der Linden

Student ID: 10067574

Specialization: International Management

Supervisor: F. Ciulli

Second supervisor: N. Pisani

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Statement of originality

This document is written by Student Renske van der Linden who declares to take full

responsibility for the contents of this document.

I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources

other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it.

The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsibly solely for the supervision of

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Abstract

CSR is a highly important topic nowadays, especially in North America and Europe, thus

management literature has given a lot of attention to CSR in developed markets. Although

multinational corporations (MNEs) from developed countries in North America or Europe

still remain the biggest players in the global economy, there is a growing number of

multinational corporations originating from emerging markets (EMs). There is limited

knowledge about the strategic CSR activities of MNEs coming from emerging markets.

Therefore, this study investigated whether and how CSR practices differ between EM MNEs

and developed market MNEs (DM MNEs) over time through a longitudinal comparative

multiple case study of a Chinese and an American MNE. This is researched by a case study of

two key players of the IT industry, Huawei and HP. The propositions are not supported,

because there are barely large differences in the practice of CSR in a DM MNE and an EM

MNE. An interesting outcomes is that Huawei lacks information about privacy and privacy

protection. There is barely change over time discovered in the CSR reports from 2008 until

2013.

Keywords: Multinational Enterprises (MNE), Emerging markets, Corporate Social Responsibility

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor FrancescaCiulli. Although the process

of writing a master thesis was sometimes difficult and stressful, Francesca’s support and

advice helped me to complete it. Her opinion and feedback stimulated me to improve my

work. Without our meetings it would have been difficult to bring this thesis process to a

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1. Introduction

Emerging markets (EMs) have been booming in the last decades. Emerging economies such

as Brazil, Russia, India and China have been growing rapidly and their economies are

becoming increasingly global (Cheng et al., 2007; Csapo & Brisan, 2014). These so-called ‘BRIC’ countries have received increasing attention in recent years by foreign investors and

management literature. Although multinational corporations (MNEs) from developed

countries in North America or Europe still remain the biggest players in the global economy,

the rise of emerging markets multinational enterprises (EM MNEs) is a new and successful

phenomenon. Indeed, research done by the McKinsey Global Institute expects that in 2025,

more than 45 percent of the Fortune Global 500 companies will be from emerging economies

(Dobbs et al., 2013). This is a large increase, considering that in 2000 the amount of EM

MNEs in the list was just 5 percent (Dobbs et al., 2013). In 2012 126 Fortune Global 500

companies originated from emerging markets (Losada-Otálora & Casanova, 2014). Of the

expected 45 percent in 2025, a little over half will originate from Greater China, which

comprises China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan (Dobbs et al., 2013). This shows that China

is a growing relevant market and the Western world will increasingly be involved with

Chinese companies. Therefore it is important to understand the Chinese way of doing

business. Indeed, China is the biggest emerging economy and differs greatly from the West in

terms of social, cultural and political structures (Yin & Zhang, 2012). Since Chinese MNEs,

among other EM MNEs, invest abroad, differences can create tension. So especially now that

EM MNEs are entering developed markets, it is important to acquire insights in their

standards and ways of doing business. This study will focus on a key subject, namely

corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR is a highly relevant topic in Europe and North

America and there is a lot of attention by management literature on CSR practices in these

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known about CSR in emerging markets (Frynas, 2006). China, as the emerging market with

the highest growth (World bank, 2015), offers a good opportunity to research whether and

how there are differences in CSR practices between firms from developed countries and

emerging countries (Yin & Zhang, 2012). In extant literature there is disagreement. Yin &

Zhang (2012) have found that CSR in China is growing, but that it is still small and of limited

importance to the management of Chinese companies. However, Gugler & Shi (2009) have

observed that companies from emerging markets are reluctant to adapt to CSR practices

created in North America and Europe, because of the negative impact that CSR has on their firm’s competitive advantage. On the same note, Lindgreen et al. (2010) are concerned that

CSR practices developed against the background of Western countries, may have little value

and effectiveness when applied to an emerging market. Extant literature investigates CSR

with the perspective of developed country firms and has given very limited attention to MNEs

coming from emerging markets (Frynas, 2006). Yet, given the global relevance EM MNEs

are expected to gain in the next decade, it is crucial to investigate the CSR practices and

differences of these firms. This study aims to address this gap by examining CSR practices of

an EM MNE and a DM MNE and studying the differences and similarities.

In particular, the research question this study aims to answer is the following:Do the CSR practices adopted by EM MNEs differ from those adopted by DM MNEs? If yes, how? This research question will be answered with the help of the following sub-questions:

- What are thedifferences in CSR, if any, between Chinese MNEs and American MNEs

globally?

- How have CSR practices adopted by Chinese and American MNEs changed over

time?

This research question will be answered through a longitudinal comparative case study of one

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collected concern the global CSR activities of both companies and are compared to examine

differences and similarities over time. The chosen companies, HP and Huawei are big players

and pioneers in the IT industry, thus providing a good opportunity to answer this research

question. China is chosen for this research because it is the emerging market with the largest

growth over the years and has a lot of power in the world economy (World bank, 2015). The

research question will be answered with the use of secondary data derived from CSR reports

from both companies. The reason for using these data is that secondary data are needed to

investigate longitudinally the CSR practices adopted by the firms.

The study aims to provide two contributions to the management literature. First, this

study contributes to existing research about CSR in EM MNE by investigating an industry

that has been overlooked in extent literature.Second, this study looks into the content of the

CSR practices, combining themes from multiple authors in order to create a complete

overview. This enables a detailed research. Next to contributions to literature, this research

has three managerial implications. First, it is valuable for managers to understand the

differences in CSR between EM MNEs and DM MNEs. Managers from EM MNEs and DM

MNEs can use this study as an overview to discover improvements and what they could learn

from each other. Second, during this research, interesting topics emerge and provides

suggestions for improvement for the managers of EM MNEs, such as privacy. Lastly, since

Chinese MNEs continue to expand to developed markets, the government of developed

markets learns from this research that the suggestions and reputation of lacking CSR

responsibilities in Chinese companies are not necessarily true.

The paper will be structured as follows. In chapter 2 the existing literature will be

critically reviewed. In chapter 3 the research method in terms of research design, research

context, data collection and data analysis will be illustrated. Chapter 4 discusses the results

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provide the discussion where findings and possible explanations are discussed. Chapter 5 also

describes the limitations and suggestions for future research. Lastly, chapter 6 includes the

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2. Literature review

In this chapter the key literature relevant for this study will be reviewed. First the extant

literature on EMs and EM MNEs will be discussed. Then the concept of Corporate Social

Responsibility and its features in emerging markets and, in particularly in China will be

explained. The literature review will end with a conclusion and propositions for this research.

2.1 Emerging market MNEs

The first association that people have of a MNE might still be a multinational corporation

from one of the big economic powers. Nowadays, a high number of MNEs still originates

from the Triad regions, consisting of North America, Western Europe and Japan (Bruche,

2009), but MNEs no longer solely originate from the these regions (Luo & Tung, 2007).

Indeed, emerging countries, like Brazil, Russia, India and China, have fast-growing

economies and are increasingly home to big firms that operate on a global level (Luo & Tung,

2007). These companies, called EM MNEs, have multiple similarities with developed market

MNEs, but also several differences.

EM MNEs have been defined by Luo and Tung (2007, p. 2) as: “international

companies that originated from emerging markets and are engaged in outward foreign direct

investment (FDI), where they exercise effective control and undertake value-adding activities in one or more foreign countries”. Emerging markets are countries whose national economies

grow fast, where industries have undergone and still undergo big structural changes (Luo &

Tung, 2007). Emerging markets are also countries whose markets hold promise despite

volatile and weak legal systems (Luo & Tung, 2007). Luo & Tung (2007) have developed a

springboard perspective to illustrate how EM MNEs expand internationally. In particular,

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international expansion as a springboard to acquire strategic resources, facilitate firm growth

and reduce their institutional and market constraints at home”.

The growing success of EM MNEs, according to Accenture (2008), is related to the

fact that they manage a broad range of risks comfortably, are really good at improvising and

keep the importance of culture and localization in mind while incorporating it in the actions of

the firm with greater success than developed market MNEs do. The increased economic

freedom of several EM MNEs, the development of new global markets and cheaper sources of

capital have contributed to EM MNEs’ growth (Accenture, 2008). These factors might be the

reason for MNEs’ growth, while at the same time they may cause constraints if the reason for

EM MNEs to expand abroad is the changing and unstable institutional environment of the

home country (Accenture, 2008). These results from Accenture are similar to what Luo &

Tung (2007) found, namely that EM MNEs expand abroad to reduce their institutional and

market constraints at home.

2.2 Corporate Social Responsibility

Technological developments simplify doing business in multiple countries and continents,

which stimulates globalization and the growing amount of companies doing business abroad.

MNEs are one of the drivers of this trend. The result of globalization is an increase in the flow

of products, services and knowledge across countries in the whole world. Although

globalization causesgood developments, such as increases in international trade and

improvement of the world economy, it has also affected the environment and society in a

negative way (Gallagher, 2009). Globalization harms the environment with increasing

international trade and transportation of products traded across the globe, causing air pollution

and water pollution (Gallagher, 2009). Also, globalization has caused an increase of waste in

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shifted to developing countries where ethics and human rights are violated (Gallagher, 2009).

Since harming environment and society is not desired, companies are stimulated to protect the

environment. However, countries and industries stimulate this in different manners

(Gallagher, 2009). This might sound contradictory since globalization makes activities in the

world similar, but different legislation, various levels of government influence and various

levels of development of countries changes the level and approach of stimulating this

protection per country (Gallagher, 2009). Next to protecting the environment, companies are

also stimulated to think about ethics, labor rights and caring for the community (Gallagher,

2009). All these activities combined form Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR gets

more attention every year by firms. As defined by Wood (1991), “CSR is a form of corporate

behavioral disposition toward stakeholders, such as consumers, employees, and the public”.

CSR activities are implemented mostly to achieve support of all stakeholder groups of the

firm and to satisfy them (Bansal & Roth, 2000). Implementing CSR because of stakeholder

groups means that CSR is implemented on request of external parties. Thus, CSR depends on

the external environment that the corporation operates in, and since MNEs operate in a large

amount of countries around the world, CSR practices can cause confusion for MNEs (Marquis

et al., 2007).The reason for this confusion is that MNEs are often doubting which rules to

follow because the external environment and institutional environment that the MNE operates

in varies in each country (Marquis et al., 2007).

Various authors (Carroll, 1991; Pinkston & Carroll, 1996; Baskin, 2006; Yin & Zhan,

2012) have developed different categorizations of CSR activities. The classification that is

most adopted in management literature is the one developed by Carroll (1991), who identified

four CSR categories: economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic. These categories have been

placed by Carroll (2006) in a pyramid in a ranking based on their importance. In particular, at

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basic responsibilities (Carroll, 1991). After these are fulfilled, the company has legal duties,

followed by ethical responsibilities and lastly, on top of the pyramid, philanthropic

responsibilities. The economic category consists of the obligation to produce goods and

provide services and sell them at fair prices, which leads to profit and healthy growth of the

firm (Pinkston & Carroll, 1996). This also includes maximizing earnings per share,

maintaining a strong competitive position and maintaining a high level of operating efficiency

(Carroll, 1991). Legal means that the company is obliged to obey the law and comply with

federal, state and local regulations (Carroll, 1991). The ethical category consists of the

responsibilities and activities that are not obliged by law but are expected of the firm by the

members of society (Pinkston & Carroll, 1996). Carroll (1991) states that corporate integrity

and ethical behavior go beyond simple compliance with laws and regulations. Lastly,

philanthropic responsibilities include the social responsibilities that are seen as voluntary and

the charitable expectations of society (Carroll, 1991). In the article by Carroll (1991), the

author states the importance of assisting projects that enhance a community’s quality of life

and provide assistance to educational institutions (Carroll, 1991).

Another interesting categorization of CSR activities, which presents similarities with Carroll’s (1991) is the one developed by Yin & Zhang (2012). In their research, the domain

that is practiced most frequent by the researched companies, is ethical. The ethical domain includes “treat employees well”, “protect the environment”, provide reliable products and

services”, “be responsible for customers”, “build an ethical culture” and “embrace

humanitarian principles”. The second domain is the discretionary domain, which includes “making donations and establishing philanthropic foundations” and “community

involvements” (Yin & Zhang, 2012). The third domain is legal, consisting of the legal

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Another author, Baskin (2006) researches different aspects of CSR and therefore divides the

concept of CSR in the following categories: corporate social investment (CSI), business

ethics, environmental policies and management systems, equal opportunities, women on

corporate boards, training and health and safety. CSI is the investments of a company in a

range of community activities, such as corporate philanthropy (Baskin, 2006). Equal

opportunities means the absence of employment-related discrimination, such as gender, racial,

age, disability discrimination (Baskin, 2006). Training includes the ongoing training of

employees that companies should offer in order to keep their staff skilled (Baskin, 2006). A

last well known CSR measuring tool is the GRI Guidelines, consisting of the economic,

environmental, social, human rights, society and product responsibility categories (Wilburn &

Wilburn, 2013). Economic consists of economic performance and indirect market impacts.

Environment consists of what affects the environment: energy, waste, water, materials used,

transport, emission (GRI, 2014). Social category consists of the sustainability and the impact

on the social systems the organization is in, but also on ethics (GRI, 2014). Interestingly, a

specific category has been assigned to human rights, even though human rights could be

placed under ethics in Carroll’s pyramid (Carroll, 1991). The category about society consists

of community, corruption and public policy (GRI, 2014). The last category, product

responsibility, includes customer health and safety, product and service labeling, marketing

communications, customer privacy and compliance (GRI, 2014).

The categories of the above mentioned authors are used to specify the broad macro

themes by Carroll, as can be seen in table 1. The combination of dimensions from different

researches creates a complete framework that is used for this research. Furthermore, small

categories used by Baskin (2006), GRI (2014) and Yin & Zhang (2012) are better structured

when placed under the four themes of Carroll (1991). In table 1 it can be seen that economic

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clearly defined by Carroll (1991). The legal category of Carroll overlaps with Yin & Zhang

(2012). The ethical category is very broad, which hinders measuring all different kinds of

activities and policies. Ethical duties are therefore divided into environmental, social, privacy

and product responsibility issues. These sub-dimensions are clearly different from each other

so it is worth to research them separately. Environmental comes from GRI (2014) and is so important for today’s world that it is given a separate sub dimension. The social sub

dimension is mentioned by Baskin (2006) as equal opportunities and as human rights by GRI

(2014). Privacy was important in GRI’s (2014) research. Fourth, product responsibility comes

from GR1 (2014). The philanthropic category is also far-reaching and consists of donations,

sponsorships and employee volunteering. This overlaps with the discretionary domain from

Yin & Zhang (2012).

Macro themes Sub dimensions Economic Legal Ethical Environment Social Privacy Product responsibility Philanthropic Donations Sponsoring Employee volunteering

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2.3 Corporate Social Responsibility in emerging markets

Some scholars argue that EM MNEs experience challenges in the adoption of CSR, which

they see as a Western concept (Gugler & Shi, 2009; Muller & Kolk, 2009), while others

instead find no differences between adaptation of CSR in EM MNEs and DM MNEs (Baskin,

2006). Thus, there is disagreement between two groups of scholars. The first group states that

EM MNEs experience challenges implementing CSR, because CSR is seen as a “Western

concept” by companies from emerging markets (Muller & Kolk, 2009).Namely, the concept

of CSR is developed in DM MNEs in the West and it fits to the characteristics of DM MNEs

that EM MNEs might not have (Muller & Kolk, 2009). It might therefore not fit in emerging

markets before it is further researched in order to become applicable in those countries

(Muller & Kolk, 2009).Furthermore, developing countries are reluctant to adopt CSR in the

way it has been conceptualized in developed countries because they assume that CSR has a

negative impact on a firm’s profit because of the costs assigned to implementing it (Gugler &

Shi, 2009). However, Guglar & Shi (2009) have observed that firms in developing countries

are increasingly considering possibilities for CSR in order to create a positive impact on them

and on their competitive advantage in the long term on the global market. Gugler & Shi

(2009) set two propositions to eliminate the difference between CSR in developing countries

and developed countries. These are 1) to improve the CSR standard-setting participation from

both the emerging and the developed countries and 2) to search for solutions in the

international investment legal framework where corporate obligations concerning CSR are

defined, so that these companies have no choice but to adopt them (Gugler & Shi, 2009).

Adopting CSR practices in a way that fits the company is important because CSR plays a big

role in creating competitive advantage, since it shows that the firm cares for the environment

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vastly growing is often characterized by behavior that is not ethical or socially responsible

(Lu, 2009). Because EM MNEs lack ethically and socially responsible behavior, differences

appear in CSR practices (Lu, 2009).

The second group of scholars states that there are either no or no large differences

between EM MNEs and DM MNEs. For example, Baskin (2006) concludes that CSR in

emerging markets is more developed than often thought and it sometimes has higher standards

than developed countries or regions. His research shows that EM MNEs do not see CSR as a

responsibility solely for developed market companies, because more than two-thirds of EM

companies report publicly on CSR (Baskin, 2006). This shows that EM MNEs realize that

CSR is important and publish their CSR policies and activities for the consumers. Other

scholars confirm that the external pressure of globalization and the internal push of state

policies are the two main reinforcements of CSR convergence among countries, so reaching

also emerging countries (Yin & Zhang, 2012).

2.4 Corporate Social Responsibility in China

As discussed previously, China is the emerging market with the highest power and differs

entirely from Europe and North America (World bank, 2015), where the majority of MNEs

used to originate from. CSR in China emerged around the late 1990s when an increasing

amount of foreign investors started to invest in the country, and has been growing especially

since China entered the World Trade Organization on December 11 in 2001 (Zu & Song,

2009). Zu & Song (2009) argue that since then developed market MNEs and other foreign

investors demanded improvement of labor rights, products of better quality and greener

products from the Chinese suppliers. This led to confusion among the Chinese because of the

dilemma of choosing between simply maximizing profit or incorporating CSR (Zu & Song,

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problems and issues about corruption and labor rights (Lu, 2009). Thus, China faces two

ethical challenges: how to legally stimulate ethical behavior in a short period of time and how

to protect the employees, investors and the public through corporate management (Lu, 2009).

Since 2006, the Chinese government has promoted CSR as a way to rebuild social legitimacy

(Moon & Shen, 2010). Yin & Zhang (2012) find that Chinese managers practice CSR as a

legitimacy-seeking strategy to key stakeholders. That would mean that the institutional

context and key stakeholders are an important reason for Chinese companies to implement

CSR. Likewise, Baskin (2006) states that the key drivers for CSR in Asia, and specifically

China, are global pressures, a strategy for competitive advantage and a strong external

investor interest in corporate governance in Asia. He confirms the fact that CSR in China is

externally driven (Baskin, 2006).

Yet, in general, CSR in China is still at early stages and has to develop a lot more to be

on the same level as MNEs from the Western countries (Yin & Zhang, 2012). Dominant CSR

practices differ in China and developed countries as well. Ethical leadership, governmental

dependency and cultural traditions are dominant in CSR in China (Yin & Zhang, 2012). This

means that Chinese companies are dependent on the government and Chinese cultural

traditions, demonstrating that internal and external pressures shape CSR activities in China

(Yin & Zhang, 2012). The social normative environment and positive peer pressure in China

is weak or even nonexistent, which causes a lack of an effective approach of CSR practices

(Yin & Zhang, 2012). The importance of ethical leadership shows that apparently managing

the firm and its people in an ethical way is seen as important by the Chinese (Yin & Zhang,

2012). Lu (2009) concludes that a growing number of Chinese firms realizes the importance

of business ethics andputs this into practice. Also, a survey from Yin & Zhang (2012) shows

that most Chinese consumers value corporate social responsibilities more than economic

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CSR. While evaluating the importance of Carroll’s pyramid of economic, legal, ethical and

philanthropic responsibilities, they found that economic responsibilities are viewed as the

most important and philanthropic the least. Since these end-users, Chinese customers support

CSR, it is interesting that some literature states that Chinese MNEs do not care about CSR

because corporations often implement consumers requests, hoping that this leads to more

profit (Ramasamy & Yeung, 2009).

The low standards and quality of CSR are challenged by Baskin (2006), who

concluded that several emerging markets even set higher CSR standards than developed

markets do, however states that China is not one of these because it shows least evidence of

commitment to business ethics. In particular, only one of the 16 Chinese companies studied

by Baskin (2006) had an extensive CSR policy regarding environmental issues and six out of

seven companies in high risk sectors did not mention health and safety at all. Baskin (2006)

mentions that either Chinese companies pay low attention to environmental issues or they do

invest in environmental issues but do not make their activities public on their corporate

websites or annual reports.

2.5 Conclusion

Extant literature shows that there are two different groups of scholars when it comes to CSR

in emerging markets. The first group states that CSR in EM MNEs differs greatly from CSR

in DM MNEs, which hinders EM MNEs from adopting CSR practices (Muller & Kolk, 2009;

Lu, 2009). However, some EM MNEs have started to adopt CSR, but they have a different

perception of what CSR is compared to standards set by Western countries (Yin & Zhang,

2012; Moon & Shen, 2010). The second group states that EM MNEs are just as active in

adopting CSR practices as DM MNEs are (Baskin, 2006; Yin & Zhang, 2012). If EM MNEs

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cause problems when EM MNEs expand abroad (Baskin, 2006; Marquis et al., 2007). This is

relevant since EM MNEs nowadays do not only expand to other emerging markets but also to

developed markets. These scholars have opposing views about CSR in EM MNEs, but the

exact difference between CSR in developed markets multinationals and emerging market

multinationals is, to my knowledge, not investigated in extant literature. Since EM MNEs are

investing in the West and DM MNEs are investing in emerging markets, this thesis will try to

fill up this gap.

After examining the literature, the following propositions are developed.

Proposition 1: It is expected that the adoption of CSR is significantly lower in the EM MNE, Huawei than in the developed market MNE, HP.

This is mainly based on the findings of Baskin (2006), who reported a difference between

CSR companies originating from EM and from developed markets, with EM MNEs investing

less in CSR compared to DM MNEs (Baskin, 2006). However, there is disagreement on this

topic because several other scholars state that CSR in EM MNEs is well-developed (Lu, 2009;

Ramasamy & Yeung, 2009; Yin & Zhang, 2012). Baskin (2006) is also one of these scholars,

however he also states that China is one of the emerging markets whose MNEs are lacking

concerning CSR. This is an interesting observation and a good opportunity to test this with

Huawei.

Based on literature, the ethical category can either differ the most (Baskin, 2006) or the least

(Lu, 2009). Therefore this study has two contradictory propositions.

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Baskin (2006) states in management literature that China shows least evidence of

commitment to business ethics. Therefore, Huawei and HP will differ greatly in terms of

ethics, with Huawei focusing less on ethics than HP.

Proposition 2b: Chinese MNEs will focus just as much on ethical practices as American MNEs do.

A survey from Lu (2009) shows that a growing number of Chinese firms realizes the

importance of ethics and puts this into practice. Yin & Zhang (2012) emphasize the

importance of ethical leadership in China. These two articles show that the importance of

ethics is growing in China, therefore it should be just as important for Huawei as for HP.

Proposition 3: It is expected that the environmental dimension is less developed in Chinese MNEs than in their DM competitors.

According to Baskin (2006), the environmental category differs greatly between the Chinese

MNE and the American MNE, with the Chinese MNE having least interest in environmental

duties from all the CSR dimensions.

Proposition 4: It is expected that Chinese MNEs focus less on the philanthropic dimension than American MNEs.

Ramasamy & Yeung (2009) state that even though Chinese customers increasingly value

CSR, philanthropic responsibilities are viewed as least important. If customers do not value

philanthropic activities, then the Chinese company will not see any benefits, therefore it will

not implement these responsibilities.

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The reason for Chinese MNEs to be less active with CSR is explained by Zu & Song (2009),

who stated that CSR emerged later in China. This happened after Western requests, meaning

that Chinese MNEs were less intrinsically motivated in the beginning and were behind with

CSR activities (Zu & Song, 2009). However, it is expected that CSR practices of Chinese

firms get progressively similar after a longer period of time, because Chinese companies see

the importance of CSR (Ramasamay & Yeung, 2009). Therefore, more recent CSR reports of

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3. Methods

In this section, firstly, the research design of the thesis will be explained. Secondly, the cases

will be presented and the reasons for their selection will be explained as well as the added

value to the thesis. The methods chapter will continue with the explanation of the data

collection process and data analysis strategy. This chapter will be concluded with remarks

about the quality of the research design.

3.1 Research design

This thesis adopts a qualitative research method. This means that the results and conclusion of

this thesis will be based on “words” rather than on “numbers”, so evidence will not be

numerical (Eisenhardt, 1989). Qualitative research is the right approach for this study because

it is suitable for in-depth research and provide insights in a way that quantitative research

cannot. Qualitative research answers “how” and “why” research questions (Yin, 2013) and

since this thesis aims to answer a “how” question, qualitative research is the right research

design. Furthermore, this thesis uses contemporary events. Using quantitative data is right for

looking into the content of specific practices, activities and projects of a company because this

cannot be tested quantitatively. These reports provide a good opportunity to research different

dimensions and to assign the focus and differences between CSR practices in companies.

This study has adopted a case study design. This design is relevant because the goal of

this research is to understand the context and to establish causal relationships, for which a

case study design is suitable (Saunders & Lewis, 2012). Also, according to Yin (2013) a case

study method is appropriated when there is no control over behavioral events and this is the

case in this research. The research question that will be answered in this study is a “how”

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A multiple case study design is adopted because a multi-case design is more robust

and compelling than a single-case design (Eisenhardt and Garbner, 2007). Yin (2013) makes a

distinction between holistic, meaning single-unit of analysis and embedded, which is

multiple-unit of analysis. Because this study will investigate one American technology

company and one Chinese technology company, this is a holistic multiple-case design. The

reason for adopting a multiple case study in this research is theoretical replication (Yin,

2013). Theoretical replication aims at producing contrasting results or differences caused by

expected reasons. Based on extant literature, different behavior is expected concerning CSR

practices in firms originating from emerging and developed markets. Therefore research will

be done to investigate if there is a difference between CSR practices adopted by MNEs from

emerging markets and developed markets.

This is a longitudinal study since CSR reports will be examined from the years 2008

until 2013. Both companies have published CSR reports for the years 2008 until 2013 on their

corporate websites. Next to this, five years is a suitable timespan because in five years’ time it

is possible that major and several minor changes have occurred.

3.2 Case criteria and selection

The EM MNE in this study is represented by a Chinese MNE whereas the DM MNE is from

represented by a MNE from the USA. There are two main reasons for choosing a Chinese

MNE. First, China is the biggest growing emerging economy of the world and has been for

several years (World bank, 2015). It is expected that in 2025, more than 45 percent of the

Global Global 500 companies will originate from China, while in 2000 this was only 5

percent (Dobbs et al., 2013). This shows that China is a rapidly growing economy. Second, as

illustrated in section 2.4, China still scores low on the performance on CSR issues compared

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example, China struggles with food safety concerns, issues about corruption and labor rights

and faces ethical challenges (Lu, 2009). China has completely different social, cultural and

political structures from Europe and North-America (Yin & Zhang, 2012) but Chinese firms

are expanding to these regions. Therefore a MNE coming from this country is interesting to

study and is the most interesting to study out of several emerging markets. The other MNE

will originate from the United States of America (USA) because this country is a world power

(World bank, 2015b).

The IT sector is chosen for this research because it is a sector that is under

consideration in terms of CSR. Greenpeace (2012) has this sector under consideration. This is

the reason that Greenpeace developed the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics. It is a

guide that compares the firms’ CSR activities and ability to do business in a sustainable

manner, and then ranks these companies. Another tool that Greenpeace has developed to

promote CSR in this sector is the Greenpeace Cool IT Challenge. This consideration makes it

an interesting sector to study and additions to the knowledge about CSR in this industry are

valuable for practice and management literature in the IT sector. This study will focus on one

industry because every industry has specific dynamics and different critical CSR issues,

which would make it impossible to compare MNEs in multiple industries and solely focus on

the differences caused by country of origin.

The aim is to research a leading Chinese MNE and leading developed market MNE to

compare their CSR-related strategies and actions. The companies that will be studied are the

following:

Case 1, a Chinese MNE: Huawei

Huawei is a Chinese telecommunications equipment and electronical devices MNE. Its

headquarters are in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China (Huawei, 2015). The company was founded

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First, Huawei is currently active in 170 countries, so it is a true global player. According to

their corporate website, their sales revenue was approximately 39.5 billion in 2013 (Huawei

2015). An interesting fact is that 65% from this revenue came from outside of China. This is a reason for choosing Huawei because a MNE that is active in a high amount of countries is

interesting to research, since it struggles with different laws, regulations and norms in every

country. As a MNE Huawei faces a strong pressure from the home-country while also facing

pressure to adapt to the different environments they operate in, therefore they are affected by

increased complexity. Second, Huawei is a large, upcoming electronics company originating

from China, which is becoming well-known outside of China. Third, Huawei is number 285

in the Global Fortune 500 2014, with 11.4 % change in revenues and even 39.7 % change in

profits compared to the previous year (Fortune, 2014). These numbers show the size of this

company and therefore the impact that CSR practices of such a large company could have on

society, as well as the difference it could make to the environment and society when

performed well. Fourth, Huawei (2015) claims to be dedicated to sustainable socio-economic

development and it strives to build a better world where individuals are able to share

everything (Huawei, 2015). The company claims to invest largely in CSR (Huawei 2015),

which makes it interesting to compare with a developed market MNE. Fifth, there is sufficient

information available online in reliable sources; this enables conducting research and

collecting relevant data. Sixth, Huawei is one of the few Chinese electronics MNEs

dominating in the field of electronic devices (Gartner, 2015). Gartner (2015) ranks the largest

electronic devices in 2014:

2014 ranking Company Growth (%) 2013-2014

Market share (%) 2014

Country of Origin

1 Samsung 5.1 9.4 South Korea

2 Apple 9.8 7.6 USA

3 HP 7.1 4.3 USA

4 Lenovo 33.9 3.8 China

5 Dell 13.2 3.0 USA

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7 Huawei 21.6 1.8 China

8 Cisco Systems 3.1 1.7 USA

9 LG Electronics 15.9 1.6 South Korea

10 Toshiba -4.0 1.5 Japan

Table 2. Ranking of the largest electronical devices

As seen in the table 2, Lenovo and Huawei are both ranked high, with also a high growth

percentage. However, Lenovo is not suitable for this study because Lenovo acquired part of

IBM, which is an American company. Therefore, Lenovo is not a pure EM MNE anymore

and is excluded from this study, which led to the choice of Huawei. Apple is ranked higher

than HP but HP is more similar to Huawei in terms of products, which makes this research a

more valuable comparison.

Case 2, an American MNE: HP

Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) is an information technology MNE originating from the

United States. The company was founded in 1939 by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, two

university friends with electronical engineering degrees from Stanford University (HP, 2015).

Its headquarters are located in Palo Alto, United States (HP, 2015). The company provides

hardware, software and services, both to consumers and to businesses.

There are two main reasons for choosing HP. First, this company produces a wide

range of products, offering laptops, tablets, computers, but also printers and ink. Because HP’s product range is broad and the growth percentage is large (Gartner, 2015), it is a

company whose CSR practices have great impact on the society and the environment. The

reason for this is that a large company has a large impact on the world in all that it does, so if

they act sustainable, other companies might follow and it has a big impact on the environment

and society. Second, there is valuable data available, because the firm has published CSR

reports from the years 2008 until 2013 on its corporate website. This is important in order to

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According to Eisenhardt (1989) researchers should add cases until theoretical saturation is

reached, because only then are there enough cases used. But Eisenhardt (1989) acknowledges

that in practice theoretical saturation might not be valid due to pragmatic considerations. This

applies to this thesis because due to pragmatic reasons and to time constraints, the number of

cases has been determined in advance.

Table 3 provides an overview of key facts of the two selected companies.

Huawei HP

Country of Origin China USA

Products Laptops, smartphones,

tablets. IT infrastructure,

products and services.

Laptops, tablets, desktops,

printers, ink & toner,

monitors, accessories.

Sales $39.5 billion (2013) $112.3 billion (2013)

CEO Ren Zhengfei Meg Whitman

Table 3: overview of the two companies selected for this study

3.3 Data collection

This thesis uses secondary data. The main reason for using secondary data is that the study is

longitudinal, which means that recent data will be compared to data from previous years.

Therefore secondary data is needed because complete data from previous years cannot be

collected at this moment since interviews would not allow to collect specific data on past

actions. Interviews are only suitable for recent data because interviewees’ memory fades or

gets biased over time. This is a longitudinal study with the focus on the years 2008 until 2013

because of the availability of CSR reports from both companies in this time span. This is a

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activities and policies in 2008, which would be 7 years ago. Interviews should be held soon

after the activity that is focused on, otherwise people lose specific memories. Also, only five

months are available for this thesis. Finding interviewees and conducting interviews would

take up the majority of the time, which means that the focus would be on finding interviewees

instead of on conducting research. This would lower the quality of the research.

This study will be a longitudinal study. If data would only be derived from a moment

in time, this moment might be an irregular one and the results are not generalizable. The

timeframe for this research is 2008 until 2013, because the CSR reports of both companies are

available for this period. With the large amount of documents publicly available in the time

frame selected for this study, a valuable overview of changes and developments over time

should emerge.The data used for this study is archival data, namely CSR reports. An

overview of used sources can be found below in table 4.

Company Name Date

HP Global Citizenship Customer Report 2008

HP Global Citizenship Report 2009

HP A connected world: the impact of HP

global citizenship 2010 – and beyond

2010

HP Global Citizen Report 2011

HP Global Citizen Report 2012

HP HP 2013 Living Progress Report 2013

Huawei Enriching life through communication.

Corporate Responsibility Report

2008

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2010

2011

Huawei Sustainability Report 2012

Huawei Sustainability Report 2013

Table 4: list of sources

3.4 Data analysis

The analytic strategy of this study is thematic coding with the use of Nvivo. The themes used

for thematic coding were identified from extant relevant literature about CSR, meaning that

the themes emerged through a deductive approach. As mentioned in the literature review, four

categories of CSR were identified in management literature: economic, ethical, philanthropic

and legal responsibilities (Pinkston & Carrol, 1996). This study will adopt the four themes by

Carroll because they are strong and altogether cover the different sides of CSR well.

However, subcategories emerged based on other authors in management literature (Baskin,

2006; Yin & Zhang, 2012; Wilburn & Wilburn, 2013). The categories by Baskin (2006), GRI

(2014) and Yin & Zhang (2012) are used for creating the sub-dimensions, because for

example, equal opportunities and environmental duties belong under the dimension of ethical

responsibilities. Also, based on the many statements on people-related ethical issues, a sub-dimension ‘social’ is made. An explanation of these sub-dimensions and sub-sub-dimensions can be

found in section 2.2. An overview of the themes for thematic coding is presented in table 5

and 6. The reports will be read and the CSR practices adopted by the companies over time

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them to themes is called coding. This makes it possible to compare firms and discover change

over time.

Macro themes by Carroll

Economic Perform consistent with maximizing earnings per share, be as profitable

as possible, maintain a strong competitive position and high level of

efficiency (Carroll, 1991)

Legal Abide the law and federal, state and local regulations. Provide goods and

services that at least meet the minimum legal requirements (Carroll,

1991).

Ethical Recognize and respect ethical and social norms adopted by society.

Recognize that ethical behavior goes beyond the law and regulations

(Carroll, 1991).

Philanthropic Managers and employees participate in voluntary and charitable activities

within local communities. Assistance to education and the community’s

quality of life (Carroll, 1991).

Table 5: Macro themes by Carroll

The use of Nvivo will simplify the process of data analysis. Themes are called nodes in

Nvivo. The categories mentioned earlier will be grouped under parent nodes. This can be seen

in Table6 below. After coding the data, a case study database is created with the coded data.

Since this study is longitudinal, a chronological list of events (Garud & Rappa, 1994) is

created in a table. This allows to have an overview of the actions undertaken over time by the

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The importance of responsibilities of CSR activities undertaken by the companies is

measured in a similar way as Baskin (2006) has done. He has made a division between partial

and extensive activities (Baskin, 2006). However, since Baskin does not have separate

categories for economic and legal duties, these are developed in this paper. For economic,

partial means that there is a small reference to producing high quality products for their

customers and creating indirect economic responsibilities. Extensive is a step further, namely

that the company has an extensive document or policy about direct and indirect economic

responsibilities, including examples of these activities. For legal, partial consists of a

statement about obeying the law, while extensive is an extensive policy about laws and

regulations and how to obey the law. For ethical, partial includes a statement that the

company has a code of ethics or a few statements from this code of ethics (Baskin, 2006).

Also, the company should verify that one of the following exists: “employee training, ‘whistle-blowing’ procedures or hotlines, compliance monitoring and regular review of the

code” (Baskin, 2006, p. 38). Furthermore, it includes a published policy for equal

opportunities or “that refers to non-discrimination on the grounds of gender and race”

(Baskin, 2006, p. 42). Also, it should include a brief statement about an existing

environmental policy. Extensive includes a published code of ethics that applies to all

employees and is broad, including bribery, facilitation, payments, unfair competition (Baskin,

2006). Furthermore, it includes that the claims to have and provides examples of at least 3 of the following: “employee training, ‘whistle-blowing’ procedures or hotlines, compliance

monitoring and regular review of the code” (Baskin, 2006, p. 38). Also, a published policy

specifically about equal opportunities and a spate document about its environmental policy

(Baskin, 2006). For philanthropic, partial includes some evidence of donations to charitable causes or a community project (Baskin, 2006). Extensive includes “evidence of involvement

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in a wide range of projects, involving significant sums of money. In emerging countries this

typically includes involvement in educational and healthcare projects” (Baskin, 2006, p. 35).

Actor CSR dimensions 1 Huawei Economic 2 HP Legal 3 Ethical: environment 4 Ethical: social 5 Ethical: privacy

6 Ethical: product responsibility

7 Philanthropic: donations

8 Philanthropic: volunteering

9 Philanthropic: sponsorship

Table 6: list of parent nodes and nodes for Nvivo

3.5 Quality of the research design

In order to ensure high quality research, this study needs to satisfy the following criteria:

construct validity, internal validity, external validity and reliability. Construct validity is the

accuracy of measurement of concepts (Yin, 2013, p. 46). This is ensured by using sources of

evidence from multiple years, which establishes a chain of evidence (Yin, 2013, p. 46).

Internal validity is the strength of the cause-effect link (Yin, 2013, p. 46). This will be high

because of pattern matching and explanation building. Pattern matching shows a certain

pattern and investigates the sequence of events and therefore the cause and effect relationship.

Furthermore, conflicting explanations will be addressed. The next criterion is external

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Because there are only two companies compared in this study, the results may not be

generalizable, however this study provides a good foundation from where more companies

can be tested on CSR differences. After this further research, it will be possible to generalize

the findings. The last criterion is reliability, which means that the study can be repeated with

the same results (Yin, 2013, p. 46). Reliability is ensured by using a case study protocol (Yin,

2013, p. 46), which enables everyone to replicate the study exactly the way it is done. This

contributes to transparency and gives everyone the opportunity to test this study’s reliability.

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4. Results

To give a clear overview of the results, this chapter will be structured as follows. The first part

is a within-case analysis, where both companies are analyzed separately for each dimension.

The second part is a cross-case analysis, where the results between the cases are compared,

focusing on both similarities and differences.

4.1 Within-case analysis: HP

The CSR activities of HP barely changed over time, at least not in the years 2008 until 2013.

The economic category is not mentioned in CSR reports. However, indirect economic

responsibilities are mentioned, such as creating jobs in supplier companies (HP, 2009),

offering reliable, high-quality products. These indirect economic responsibilities are similar

every year. According to the guidelines by Baskin (2006), the economic duties by Huawei are

partial, because of short statements about direct and indirect benefits.

Concerning the legal responsibilities, abiding the law by both the employees and HP as a

company is emphasized in 3 of the 5 reports. No logical order can be discovered since it is

mentioned in the years 2008, 2011 and 2012. HP complies with corruption and anti-money laundering laws and regulations, summarized in HP’s Anti-Corruption Compliance

Program Overview (HP, 2008; HP, 2011; HP, 2012). Also, legal and regulatory compliance is

required from all employees and other stakeholders, simply meaning to obey the law (HP,

2008). These responsibilities are extensive, since HP has a published anti-corruption

compliance program.

Ethical responsibility is a broad theme, so in order to classify the various sorts of activities, it

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environment, social, privacy and product responsibility. HP has developed Standards of

Business Conduct, which educates employees about ethics in the company.

The first sub-dimension to discuss is environmental. The focus of environmental

responsibilities is on the supply chain, namely the greenhouse gas emissions due to raw

materials use and manufacturing. “Improving supply chain standards is an ongoing process,

and collaboration is vital to our success” (HP, 2009). However, from 2010 on the reports add focus on customers: “we help customers transform energy-intensive processes to become

more efficient and intelligent”. Since the launch of the Living Progress, HP emphasized

development of technologies that are the solutions to environmental challenges (HP, 2013).

Concluding, the responsibilities are extensive according to Baskin (2006) because of the

published Social Living Progress that applies to all employees.

The second sub-dimension consists of social responsibilities. Activities are similar

over the years, focusing mainly on human rights in the supply chain. HP has developed a

Supply Chain Code of Conduct that is underpinned by international labor and human rights

standards, so employees need to comply (HP 2010). Furthermore, there are policies against

discrimination.HP has adopted practices to decrease discrimination, which appears to be

working because discriminatory practices are decreasing since 2008 (HP, 2008). These

practices are adopted throughout the years (HP, 2009). Concluding, these duties are partial

because HP makes a statement about a published policy for equal opportunities, but this

published policy is not found (Baskin, 2006).

The third sub-dimension is privacy. In most years (2008, 2009, 2012, 2013) privacy is

seen as very important to global citizenship. The same privacy principles are applied in every

country that HP operates in, so there is no difference between home and host country. To

elaborate of the privacy domain, HP introduced Privacy by Design in 2012 (HP, 2012). This

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portfolio (HP, 2012). Concluding, privacy duties are extensive, because of a published

privacy policy applicable to all employees (Baskin, 2006).

Product responsibility is the fourth sub-dimension of the ethical category and focuses

on the products that HP makes and their effect on society and the environment. Activities are

similar over the years and consist of improving products in order to reduce energy usage and

simplifying recycling these products. The focus is on designing products to simplify being

environmentally friendly. The importance of this category is partial because CSR reports

include are a few statements concerning this topic but lacks a policy and a wide range of

examples (Baskin, 2006).

Philanthropic activities are divided in three sub-dimensions: donations, sponsorships and

employee volunteering. The main focus of the sub-dimension donations is supporting health

care and disaster relief. Activities are similar over time and take place mostly in the home

country, the United States, such as donation of money and equipment in response to natural

disasters (HP, 2009). One of many examples is that HP donated technology and money to the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in California (HP, 2009). Sponsorships from HP are

mainly focused on education (HP, 2008; HP, 2009; HP, 2010). This focus was similar every

year. Some examples are the HP Technology for Teaching grant program, its partnership with

the United Nations to counter brain drain and improving world education through the HP

Catalyst Initiative (HP, 2008). Both employee and retiree volunteering are very important at

HP (HP, 2009). For example, in the 2009 CSR Report, HP states that by volunteering, HP

shares progress made, point out volunteering opportunities and hosts educational events (HP,

2009). HP employees find volunteer opportunities that match their skills through HP

VolunteerMatch (HP, 2010). Concluding, all three kinds of HP’s philanthropic responsibilities

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found in CSR reports and big amounts of money is invested in these projects. Baskin (2006)

stated that in emerging markets projects and sums of money mostly go to involvement in

education and health care. This appears to be true for the global activities of HP, so not only

in emerging countries as Baskin (2006) found.

Table 7 presents the findings of this within-case analysis and it gives an overview of the most

memorable quotes or examples from CSR reports.

CSR Sub dimension Summary Example

Economic Only indirect economic

responsibilities mentioned.

HP products make

businesses and individuals

more effective, which

unlocks further growth for

HP (HP, 2009).

Legal Compliance with

anti-corruption laws. Legal

responsibilities for both

the company and its

stakeholders.

Anti-Corruption

Compliance Program

Overview (HP, 2008; HP,

2011; HP, 2012)

Ethical Environment Reducing impact in the

supply chain. Since 2010 a

shift towards the focus on

customers (HP, 2010).

Living Progress since

2013 for all employees

(HP, 2013).

Social Labor rights, training

employees, protecting

Human Rights,

anti-Supply Chain Code of

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discrimination policy (HP,

2008)

Privacy Only mentioned in the

CSR reports of 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013. Since 2012: privacy by design (HP, 2012) Product responsibility

The focus is on consumer usage of HP’s products

and how to make this

environmentally

responsible (HP 2010).

Reducing the energy

consumption of

consumers’ usage of HP

products at home by 40

percent (HP, 2010)

Philanthropic Donations Focus on health care and

disaster relief, mainly in

the United States

Donations to hospitals

Sponsorship Focus of the activities is

on supporting education

worldwide.

Scholarships, sponsoring

programs, such as the HP

Catalyst Initiative (HP,

2009).

Employee

volunteering

Employees and retirees

dedicate time every year to

volunteering.

HP retirees and employees

volunteer thousands of

hours to support local

charities and schools.

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The content of Huawei’s CSR reports was almost exactly the same every year, also featuring

similar themes and activities.

The first category is economic responsibilities. Huawei has the responsibility to make profit

but in every CSR report they emphasize that they do not only maximize interests or scale, but

care about supporting communities too. They emphasize localizing global operations, with

local management, employees and R&D. Since there is no separate policy or document concerning economic responsibilities, Huawei’s duties are categorized as partial, according to

Baskin’s measurement system.

Legal responsibilities are emphasized every year. For employees, Huawei has issued the

Huawei Employee Business Conduct Guidelines in 2008 to show employees how to abide the

law (Huawei, 2008). For the company itself it means obeying the laws of every country it

operates in and compliance with the national and international export control regulations. “Huawei promotes fair operations, strictly implements ‘transparent procurement’ and

‘transparent sales’ and opposes bribery, corrupt activities, dumping and monopolies so as to

build a harmonious business environment” (Huawei, 2011, p. 9). Since Huawei has developed

a large policy about laws and how to obey, these duties are seen as extensive.

The next dimension is ethical, which is a fairly broad CSR dimension. Therefore it is divided

in sub-dimensions, namely environmental, social, privacy and product responsibilities. It can

be concluded from CSR reports that Huawei’s activities for the first sub-dimension,

environmental, responsibilities are mainly concentrated on waste and energy use on the work

floor, so at offices and production bases (Huawei, 2012). A Lifecycle Assessment (LCA)

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network and broadband access product in the fixed network (Huawei, 2012). The activities

concerning environmental duties are global, so both in home and host countries. Since the

mentioning of environmental duties includes more than just a small statement, this is seen as

extensive according to Baskin (2006).

The social dimension consists of activities concerning people. Huawei promotes equal

opportunities for men and women, has a strong non-discrimination policy, strictly bans the

use of child labor and enhanced the social security and health programs for employees.

Huawei has set up the Employee Health and Safety Leadership team (Huawei, 2008).

Furthermore, Huawei provides facilities for physically disadvantaged employees (Huawei,

2009; Huawei, 2010; Huawei 2011; Huawei, 2012; Huawei, 2013). The social ethics duties

are broad, including anti-bribery, anti-discrimination, equal opportunities and anti-child labor

so this is categorized as extensive, meaning that this classifies as extensive (Baskin, 2006).

Privacy is not mentioned in the CSR reports from the years 2008 until 2013. This

raises concerns because for a company in the IT industry, with products such as Huawei,

protecting privacy must not be neglected. Since there is no mentioning of privacy duties, this

is neither partial nor extensive, but non-existent.

Product responsibility shows the effect of Huawei’s products on society and the

environment. In 2009, Huawei started the Green Product Certification Program to improve

products in terms of their environmental performance (Huawei, 2009). In 2010, Huawei

developed certification standards for green products to evaluate the environmental

performance of products in each phase of the lifecycle (Huawei, 2010). In later reports,

product responsibility is not mentioned in this way anymore, so this might mean that the CSR

focus has shifted away from this dimension. Until the end of 2010, this was extensive because

of far-reaching policies, but the last years it is not present at all (Huawei, 2011; Huawei, 2012;

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Philanthropic activities are divided in three sub-dimensions: donations, sponsorships and

employee volunteering. The main focus of the sub-dimension donations is supporting

education and disaster relief. Causes are similar over time and the activities take place mostly

in the home country, China and other emerging markets. Huawei donates telecommunication

equipment in disaster stricken areas or very poor regions, so its philanthropic activities are close to Huawei’s business. In May 2008, Huawei supported areas in Myanmar that were

destroyed by Hurricane Nargis with telecommunications equipment(Huawei, 2008). Also,

Huawei regularly donates educational equipment and scholarships to schools in Africa and

Asia (Huawei, 2008, Huawei 2010).

Huawei is active with sponsorships in emerging markets, where it helps to bridge the

Digital Divide (Huawei, 2009; Huawei, 2010). The Telecom Seed for the future campaign

helps students to get a better understanding of new technologies and trends in

telecommunication (Huawei, 2013). In 2008 Huawei started to expanding access to

telecommunications network in Africa and strengthening Africa’s connection with the rest of

the world (Huawei, 2008). Then in 2009 Huawei committed to bridging the Digital Divide

(Huawei, 2009).

Employee volunteering seems only to be the focus in 2008 and 2009, when Huawei’s

Charity Association stimulated employees to volunteer in community service (Huawei, 2008;

Huawei, 2009). From the amount and broad range of projects that Huawei is involved in and

the amount of money donated to this causes, it can be concluded that the first two dimensions

of philanthropic activities are extensive, while employee volunteering belongs to partial.

Table 8 presents the findings of this within-case analysis and it gives an overview of the most

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Category Sub dimension Summary Statement or example

Economic Focus on more than just

being profitable and

maintaining a strong

competitive position.

Huawei localizes global

operations.

Legal Very strict legal

responsibilities of both

employees and the

company itself.

Huawei Employee Business

Conduct Guideline to show

employees how to obey the

law (Huawei, 2008).

Ethical Environment Focus on work floor:

offices and production

base sites.

Lifecycle Assessment

Social Activities concern solely

employees: health and

safety, equal

opportunities,

non-discrimination.

Huawei’s R&D held the

first female conference on “growth, progress and

excellence”, and ensures

equal opportunities for all staff” (Huawei, 2010, p. 6)

Privacy Not mentioned in CSR

reports from 2008 until

2013. Product responsibility In 2009 and 2010 focus on certification standards to improve environmental

Green Product Certification

Program in 2009 (Huawei,

Does country of origin matter for the quality and quantity of CSR activities done by a multinational corporation?

Amsterdam Business School