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Unileve and Ben&Jerry's Csr

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Unileve and Ben&Jerry's Csr
Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s:
Corporate Responsibility or Corporate Greed?
Loughborough University, 2013

Ana Raquel Pinto Coelho Student I.D.: B227487

Table of Contents

1. Literature Review..…………………………………………………………1 2. Method of Research………………………………………………………...5 3. Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s – Companies Profile………………………….5 4. Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s – CSR Analysis - Actions and Issues…............7 5. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….10 6. Appendix……………………………………………………………………12 7. Bibliography………………………………………………………………..15

1. Literature Review

In the last 50 years Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) became a day-today subject discussed by multinationals, governments, Non Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) and society in general. These discussions vary from social to environmental issues, such as labor rights and climate change. Furthermore, CSR is directly linked to companies, thus most companies opt for certain programs from which will receive market-based incentives (Jr., W. et al., 2005). CSR as a mainstream topic can be seen through the volume of ‘voluntary’ actions, publications, seminars, and organizations, committed to it. However, there is not one unique definition of CSR although the fact most definitions comprise a correlation between profit maximization and the fulfillment of civil society (Doane, D., 2005). The term Corporate Social Responsibility started its uncoordinated evolution in 1950s, due to stakeholder pressures and commitments towards the future generations (De Bakker et al., 2005). This evolution was pronounced with the publication of “Social Responsibilities of the Businessman” by Howard R. Bowen’s, in 1953. After this publication, a great range of research and works was dedicated to the subject, contributing to the development of the social responsibility concept (Carroll, A., 1979). Some of the pioneers in CSR framework were Keith Davis (1960), he advocated that social responsibility related to businesses’ was



Bibliography: Ahmed, Kamal, 2011, Davos 11: Unilever’s Paul Polman believes we need to think long term, The Telegraph, Available [Accessed at: on http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/davos/8261178/Davos-2011Unilevers-Paul-Polman-believes-we-need-to-think-long-term.html, March 10th, 2013] Anderson, Richard, 2010, Unilever says sustainability key to new business model, BBC News, Available at: , [Accessed on March 5th, 2013] Blowfield, Michael, Frynas, Jedrzej George, 2005, Setting new agendas: critical perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility in the developing world, International Affairs, 81: 499-513 Burke, Lee, Logsdon, Jeanne M., 1996, How Corporate Social Responsibility Pays Off, Long Range Planning, Vol. 29, N. 4, pp. 495 to 502 Caligiuri, Paula, 2012, When Unilever bought Ben & Jerry’s: A Story of CEO Adaptability, FastCompany, Available at: http://www.fastcompany.com/3000398/when-unilever-bought-ben-jerrys-story-ceoadaptability, [Accessed on March 4th, 2013] Carroll, Archie B., 1979, A Three-Dimensional Conceptual Model of Corporate Performance, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 497-505 Carroll, Archie B., 1991, The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral Management of Organizational Stakeholders, Business Horizons, 39-48 Carroll, Archie B., 1999, Corporate Social Responsibility – Evolution of a Definitional Construct, Business & Society, Vol. 38, No. 3, 268-295   Center For Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), 2002, Ben & Jerry’s Fudging the Truth, Says CSPI, Center For Science in the Public Interest, Available at: , [Accessed on March 11th, 2013] Center For Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), 2004, Ben & Jerry’s Urged to Post Calories, Center For Science in the Public Interest, Available at: http://www.cspinet.org/new/200401091.html, [Accessed on March 11th, 2013] Confino, Jo, 2012, Ben & Jerry’s: Parent Companies don’t always know best, The Guardian, Available at: , [Accessed on March 4th, 2013] CSRWire, 2012, Ben & Jerry’s: A Certified B Corp?, CSRWire Talkback, Available at: http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/589-ben-jerry-s-a-certified-b-corp, [Accessed on March 5th, 2013] De Bakker, Frank G. A., Groenewegen, Peter, Hond, Frank Den, 2005, A Bibliometric Analysis of 30 Years of Research and Theory on Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Social Performance, Business & Society, 44:283-317 Doane, Deborah, 2005, Beyond corporate social responsibility: minnows, mammoths and markets, ELSEVIER Future 37 (215 -229), London Environmental Leader, 2011, CSR Department Redundant, Unilever Chief says, Environmental Leader – Environment and Energy Management News, Available at: , [Accessed on March 5th, 2013] Environmental Leader, 2013, Unilever Moves Zero – Waste Goal Five Years Closer, Environmental Leader – Environment and Energy Management News, Available at: < http://www.environmentalleader.com/2013/01/24/unilever-moves-zero-waste-goalfive-years-closer/>, [Accessed on March 7th, 2013] Fulton, April, 2010, Ben & Jerry’s takes ‘All natural’ Claims of Ice Cream Labels, NPR.org, Available at: , [Accessed on March 10th, 2013] Hayes, Costance L., 2000, Ben & Jerry’s to Unilever with Attitude, The New York Times, Available at: ,[Accessed on March 4th, 2013] Jr., William B. Werther, Chandler, David, 2005, Strategic corporate social responsibility as global brand insurance, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University Keys, Tracey, Malnight, Thomas W., van der Graaf, Kees, 2009, Making the most of corporate social responsibility, McKinsey Quarterly, McKinsey & Company Left, Sarah, 2005, ‘If its melted, it’s ruined’, The Guardian, Available at: < http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2005/apr/28/ethicalbusiness.environment>, [Accessed on March 5th, 2013] Maon, Francois, Lindgreen, Adam, Swaen, Valerie, 2008, Designing and Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility: An Integrative Framework Grounded in Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Ethics 87:71-89 Marketing, 2011, Universal Charm – Unilever Brand Profile, Marketing Magazine Blogs, Available at: < http://www.marketingmag.com.au/blogs/universal-charmunilever-brand-profile-9157/#.UX8CUoJAvEV> , [Accessed on March 10th, 2013] Moir, Lance, 2001, What do you mean by Corporate Social Responsibility?, MCB University Press, pp. 16-22 Motavalli, Jim, 2011, Ben & Jerry’s ‘Natural’ Claims Still an Issue, Daily Finance, Available at: < http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/02/24/ben-and-jerrys-naturalclaims-still-an-issue/>, [Accessed on March 11th, 2013]   Neil, John D., Stovall, O. Scott, 2005, Stakeholder Salience and Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence from Three Companies, The Journal of Applied Business Research, 21 (3):71-78 Page, Anthony, Katz, Robert A., 2012, The Truth About Ben & Jerry’s, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Available at: [Accessed http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_truth_about_ben_and_jerrys, on March 10th, 2013] Pava, Moses L., Krauz, Joshua, 1996, The Association Between Corporate SocialResponsibility and Financial Performance: The Paradox of Social Cost, Journal of Business Ethics, 15:321-357 Pinkston, Tammie S., Carroll, Archie B., 1996, A Retrospective Examination of CSR Orientations: Have They Changed?, Journal of Business Ethics, 15:199-206 Porter, Michael E., Kramer, Mark R., 2006, Strategy & Society – The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility, Harvard Business Review Putrevu, Sanjay, McGuire, Jean, Siegel, Donald S., Smith, David M., 2011, Corporate social responsibility, irresponsibility, and corruption: Introduction to the special section, Journal of Business Research, 65:1618-1621 Reuben, Anthony, 2012, Did Ben & Jerry’s change Unilever?, BBC News, Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18167345, [Accessed on March 4th, 2013] Rosenberg, Tina, 2011, A Scorecard of Companies with a Conscience, The New York Times The Opinion Pages, Available at: , [Accessed on March 5th, 2013]   Rosin, Hanna, 1995, The Evil Empire: The Scoop on Ben & Jerry’s Crunchy Capitalism, The New Republic, Available at: http://www.jonentine.com/articles/evil_empire.htm, [Accessed on March 10th, 2013] Sprinkle, Geoffrey B., Maines, Laureen A., 2010, The benefits and costs of corporate social responsibility, Business Horizons, 53:445-453 The Economist, 2010, The campaign against palm oil: The other oil spill, The Economist, Available at: < http://www.economist.com/node/16423833> [Accessed on March 10th, 2013] Wood, Donna J., 1991, Corporate Social Performance Revisited, The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 691-718

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