Corporate social responsibility in Brasil : to what extent does Norske Skog contribute to sustainable development?

Abstract

Research Purpose and Research Question The world has become an arena of multidimensional social, economic and ecological interdependency (Keohane & Nye 1989). One of the main characteristics of this ‘complex interdependence’ is the existence of transnational channels of relations connecting societies , within which Transnational Corporations (TNCs) are key actors. The role of TNCs has grown due to the increase of international economic transactions caused mainly by foreign direct investment (FDI) and the operations of foreign affiliates in developing countries (WIR 2005: 14). TNCs are mainly based in developed countries with expanding activities in developing countries, especially through their foreign affiliates. The role played by TNCs can no longer be measured solely in economic and financial terms. TNCs are also important in connecting developing countries and industrialized countries in terms of culture, technology and modes of organizations (Hansen 1998: i) setting a new dimension on people’s aspirations and on global developmental purposes. In the Stockholm Conference of 1972, a common understanding was reached that development and the environment are not incompatible - although almost none was certain of how to make them compatible in practice; and despite all discussions raised by LDCs on the ‘ecological limitations imposed upon –local- development’ (Almeida 2002). A new set of discussion was needed and a World Commission for Environment and Development (WCED), Brundtland Commission, was created by the United Nations in 1983. Meanwhile, it became clearer that environmental problems (with the increase of environmental disasters globally) are interconnected to social and economic issues (ibid). The commission’s work culminated with the production of the report Our Common Future in 1987, putting in the international agenda the concept of Sustainable Development. Additionally, the commission recommended the UN General Assembly to arrange the II International Conference on Environment and Development, which was held in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, twenty years after the Stockholm Conference. The Rio-92 had the participation of delegations from 175 countries. Rio-92 was marked by a co-operative working process among the participants rather than the ‘conflicting’ scenario of the Stockholm 1972 (ibid). The most comprehensive compromises adopted at Rio 92 are the Rio Declaration and the Agenda 21. Rio 92 aimed at developing a common international cooperative agenda for the sustainable development of the planet through, as proposed by Agenda 21, changing the -negative- developmental patterns that were established until then. Chapter 30 of Agenda 21 recommended more socially and environmentally responsible conducts to the business community, and TNCs. The purpose of this thesis is to draw an analysis on TNCs’ ability to make development sustainable in developing countries through socially responsible actions. The business, or better, TNC case for sustainable development is what I want to address in this thesis. I have chosen to focus on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) measures practiced by a particular TNC and its subsidiary located in a developing country. The TNC in question is the Norwegian Norske Skogindustrier ASA, and the affiliate is the Norske Skog Pisa, with operational activities in Jaguariaíva, in Paraná state, Brazil. The main research question in this thesis is the following: To what extent does Norske Skog contribute to sustainable development? My main research question will be guided by three other questions: 1) How are CSR- measures being implemented by Norske Skog in Brazil at Pisa? 2) Which factors are influencing Norske Skog’s implementation of CSR-measures at Pisa? 3) Are CSR-measures the best means through which TNCs contribute to Sustainable Development in Brazil? The three questions presented above are illustrated in the model I have developed and which will be presented in the following section.