Abstract
In this chapter, we sketch the rise of explicit CSR in the Norwegian context by focusing on the extractive industries’ entry into a global market and the resulting legitimacy challenges arising from this transition. Explicit CSR, in the sense of expressing social and environmental responsibility and voluntarily committing to promote societal benefits, can be viewed as a strategy by which the companies attempt to fill the governance gaps of global capitalism. We review two major Norwegian companies, Hydro and Statoil/Equinor, and argue that while their CSR strategy has been quite successful, it is challenging to reconcile the role of a socially and environmentally responsible company with being an actor in the global extractive industries.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
The fertilizer production was spun off as a separate business under the name of Yara in 2004, while the oil and gas activity was sold and merged with Statoil in 2007.
- 3.
Cf. Carson and Skauge (2019: 196).
- 4.
Dagens Næringsliv 21.11.2011.
- 5.
These are ranked at, respectively, number 165 (Angola) and 152 (Azerbajan) out of 180 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index of 2018, ranking 180 countries and territories by their perceived level of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, cf. https://www.transparency.org/cpi2018, accessed Sept. 9, 2019.
- 6.
Petromedia, May 21, 2013, http://petro.no/statoil-vi-kan-ikke-ta-over-et-politisk-ansvar/20003, Accessed Aug 27, 2015.
- 7.
Cf. e.g. 2013 Sustainability Report (Statoil 2014), p. 1:”The approach is based on our fundamental belief in the business case for sustainability—efficiency in resources and therefore costs, a long-term social license to operate and technology that will secure future business opportunities”.
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Carson, S.G., Nilsen, H.R. (2021). CSR in the Norwegian Context. In: Pereira, E.G., Spencer, R., Moses, J.W. (eds) Sovereign Wealth Funds, Local Content Policies and CSR. CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56092-8_35
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