A Tiered Approach to Strategic CSR Through Camouflage and Courtship Analogies CANCELLED

Event abstract

This presentation explores a theory of strategic Corporate Social Responsibility by classifying the various activities firms take to achieve competitive advantage and ensure legitimacy through drawing on an analogy to forms of camouflage an courtship found in the natural world. It suggested a ‘tiered’ strategic approach whereby organisations consider the nature of their Target, Intent, Environment and customised Response. Thus these interlinked dimensions interact to form an eight-part typology of strategic approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), set within a firm’s specific contextual environment.. Each of the eight strategic approaches (self-decoration, background matching, motion matching, shadowing, dazzle, signalling, distractive mimicry and associative identities) are considered through the lens of their biological comparators and published case vignettes of CSR strategies within firms. Each is also related to the antecedent theories found within CSR and wider management discourses and presents an indicative set of propositions suggesting an agenda for future empirical enquiry.

Speaker biographies

Jo Crotty (PhD, BA(Hons), PGCert, FHEA) is Professor of Management and Dean of the Institute of Business and Law at Aberystwyth University. She has previously held posts at Salford Business School, Aston Business School and University of Liverpool Management School. Her research interests focus on corporate responsibility, greening and state-society-business relations in former Soviet Union countries. She has published widely in top business and management, as well as area-specific journals.

Professor Diane Holt (BSc, MSc, PhD) joined Essex Business School in November 2013. Previously she held posts at Queen's University Belfast (2007-2013) and Middlesex University Business School (1996-2007). She has published over 90 peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters and conference papers in areas such as green supply chain management, role of business in development, sustainability discourse, and ecopreneuring. Her research includes projects in Kenya, Brazil and South Africa exploring the interactions between business and society, especially for marginalised groups in low income contexts.