CSR Strategies in International Business. Concepts and theories for a competitive edge

For decades, multinational corporations benefited from developing countries mainly as a source of cheap labour and weak regulations. Even when corporate social responsibility (CSR) was embraced it has been tailored to customers in the developed world. With the rise of the middle class in emerging economies and social media driven scrutiny of corporate conduct around the globe, CSR increasingly requires an international outlook.Adopting strategic CSR in international business provides multinational corporations with a competitive edge. An emerging field of research around international CSR points to global, local and transnational strategies as viable options. Considering impacting variables such as cultural distance, industry features and brand visibility, recommendations are derived for managers that advance the concept of shared value for business and society. In addition, a set of future research questions is outlined to further the academic discussion around this important aspect of business in the 21th century.

Autorentext

Between late 2010 and early 2016, Jonas Feller earned a bachelor and a master degree in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Vienna. This program, which covered subjects from sociology, politics, history and Arabic, was complemented with the Individual Bachelor program 'International Business Administration in consideration of Middle Eastern Studies', offered by the Vienna University of Economics and Business. As part of his studies, Mr. Feller spent time in Denmark, Montenegro, Egypt and Jordan. He graduated with his master's thesis on entrepreneurship in the MENA region and subsequently continued to work in Beirut, Dubai and Amman as a researcher on entrepreneurship ecosystem development and corporate startup collaboration.