CSR deployment in MNC.A cross-country study within African subsidiaries

How do subsidiaries react when their headquarters and their local stakeholders make conflicting demands? This study examines the pressures, barriers and enablers which subsidiaries of multinational corporations’ encounters when engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in Africa. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with thirty- three managers across twenty six subsidiaries within five different African countries: Angola, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. The findings show that internal institutional forces, such as the head office and local institutional forces, including employees and local stakeholders will affect the subsidiary’s CSR behaviour. In addition, the findings reveal patterns of subsidiaries to follow the global CSR as a “minimum requirement” to meet parent firm’s expectations. The global CSR is a threshold for subsidiaries to meet a minimum level of CSR requirements. The remaining part of CSR activities is added by the subsidiaries themselves, with the expectation to meet local needs. The study uncovers that CSR activities implemented by subsidiaries show a need to attain legitimacy toward the parent company and toward local stakeholders.