Abstract
According to the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs (2001), transparency by means of Sustainability Reporting should lead to better Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance of companies. Sustainability Reporting should also give consumers the information they need to purchase the most sustainable products available (Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, 2004). This article analyses the driving factors influencing CSR and Sustainability Reporting at seven breweries in the Netherlands. It also gives a better understanding of organizational behaviour with reference to CSR and the reasons breweries have for Sustainability Reporting. The Dutch government has no intention of forcing organizations to publish a sustainability report, since it is trying to diminish the volume of legislation. Rather, the government prefers to rely on the willingness and initiatives of organizations to make CSR a success. In 2006, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs will evaluate the effect of its CSR policy. But is it a success already? During our research, breweries appeared to find CSR more important than Sustainability Reporting. Sustainability reporting is, for most breweries, not the way to reach stakeholders. Most stakeholders have their own means for receiving information e.g. annual reports, meetings, public statements and press releases. Although small breweries think CSR is very important, they feel no pressure from outside to publish a sustainability report. For them it is very complex and expensive to publish a sustainability report. Large breweries feel pressure from many stakeholders to be transparent, but not on a regular basis. We conclude from this research that CSR does not stimulate Sustainability Reporting, but neither does Sustainability Reporting stimulate CSR.
Article PDF
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Abbreviations
- CMC:
-
Computer-Mediated Communication
- CMAC:
-
Computer-Mediated Asynchronous Communication
- CSR:
-
Corporate Social Responsibility
- EZ:
-
Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs
- GRI:
-
Global Reporting Initiative
- I.a:
-
Among other things
- MEI:
-
Model-Effectiveness Instrument
- SER:
-
Sociaal Economische Raad (Social-Economic Counsil)
- S.R.:
-
Sustainability Reporting
- RIVM:
-
Institute for Public Health and the Environment
References
Aalbers, R. A. H. M.: 2004, ‘Publieksmilieuverslag wordt afgeschaft’, Controllers Journal 23/24, 17–23
Bauer M. W., Gaskell G. (2000) Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound. A Practical Handbook. Sage Publications, London
Beckers T., van Ingen E., Harkink E. (2004) Maatschappelijke waardering van duurzame ontwikkeling. Conceptualisering en Operationalisering. Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu, Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Benhunan-Fich R., Hilz S. R., Turoff M. (2002) A Comparative Content Analysis of Face-to-Face vs. Asynchronous Group Decision Making. Decision Support Systems 34: 457–469
Bergmans, F.: 2003, ‘Balans in People’, Planet en Profit. Press Summary of: Kim, R., Dam, van E., 2003, ‘The Added Value of Corporate Social Responsibility’ (NIDO, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands)
Corbett, D.: 2004, ‘Excellence in Canada: Healthy Organizations – Achieve Results by Acting Responsibly’, Journal of Business Ethics 55, 125–133. Kluwer Academic Publishers
Cramer J. (2002) Ondernemen met hoofd en hart. Koninklijke Van Gorcum, Assen, The Netherlands
Dawkins, J. and L. Stewart: 2003, ‘CSR in Stakeholder Expectations: And Their Implication for Company Strategy’, Journal of Business Ethics 44, 185–193. Kluwer Academic Publishers
DHV: 2001, ‘Duurzaamheidsverslag onvermijdelijk’, DHV (Adviesgroep Duurzaam Ondernemen) (DHV, Amersfoort, The Netherlands)
Dutch Sustainability Research (2003) Duurzaam ondernemen onder AEX-bedrijven. Een studie naar maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen onder beursgenoteerde ondernemingen in Nederland. Dutch Sustainability Research, Zeist, The Netherlands
Elkington J. (1997) Cannibals with Forks. The Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business. Capstone Publishing Limited, Oxford
Feenstra, D. W.: 2004, ‘De kwaliteit van externe verslaggeving met betrekking tot Maatschappelijk Verantwoord Ondernemen’, Accounting 108(4), 9
Garriga E., Melé D. (2004) Corporate Social Responsibility: Mapping the Territory. Journal of Business Ethics 53: 51–71
GRI (Global Reporting Initiative): 2002, Richtlijnen voor Duurzaamheidsverslaggeving (GRI)
Good Company (2003) Eindverslag t.b.v. project: Vergroten transparantie bij duurzaam ondernemen. Good Company, Amersfoort, The Netherlands
Graafland J. J., Eijffinger S. C. W. (2004) Corporate Social Responsibility of Dutch Companies: Benchmarking, Transparency and Robustness. The Economist 152: 403–426
Graafland J. J., Eijffinger S. C. W., Stoffele N. C. G. M., Smid H., Coldeweijer A. M. (2003a) ‘Corporate Social Responsibility of Dutch Companies: Benchmarking and Transparency’, Commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. University of Tilburg, The Netherlands
Hemingway C. A., Maclagan P. W. (2004) Managers’ Personal Values as Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics 52: 85–98
Hockerts L. M. (2004) Communicating Corporate Responsibility to Investors: The Changing Role of Investor Relation Function. Journal of Business Ethics 50: 33–44
Hoevenagel R. (2004) Maatschappelijk Verantwoord Ondernemen in het midden- en kleinbedrijf. EIM, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
Kim R., van Dam E. (2003) The Added Value of Corporate Social Responsibility. NIDO, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Krüger, W.: 1996, Implementation the Core Task of Management. CEMS Business Review. Vol 1 (Kluwer Academic/Plemum Publishers)
van der Linden I., Molenkamp G. C. (2000) Verslaglegging op milieu en sociaal gebied in 2000. De top 100 Nederlandse concerns nader bekeken. KPMG Milieu, The Hague
van Marrewijk M. (2003) Concepts and Definitions of CSR and Corporate Sustainability: Between Agency and Communion. Journal of Business Ethics 44: 95–105
Miles, P. M. and J. G. Covin: 2000, ‘Environmental Marketing: A Source of Reputational, Competitive and Financial Advantage’, Journal of Business Ethics 44, 95–105. Kluwer Academic Publishers
Ministerie van Economische Zaken (EZ) (2001) Maatschappelijk Verantwoord Ondernemen: het perspectief vanuit de overheid. Ministry of Economic Affairs, The Hague
Ministerie van Economische Zaken (EZ) (2004) Transparantiebenchmark 2004: Bedrijven. Ministry of Economic Affairs, The Hague
MVO Platform: 2002, MVO Referentiekader (Peco, Amsterdam)
Paape L., Hummels H. (2000) Sociale en ethische verantwoording: keurslijf of lijfsbehoud? Van Gorcum, Assen
Panapanaan V. M., Linnanen L., Karvonen M., Phan V. T. (2003) Roadmapping Corporate Social Responsibility in Finnish Companies. Journal of Business Ethics 44: 133–148
Quazi A. M., O’Brien D. (2000) An Empirical Test of a Cross-National Model of Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics 25: 33–51
Remkes R. (2000) Het meten van de performance van eenonderneming op de financieel-economische dimensie van maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen. Erasmus University, Rotterdam
Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM): 2004, Kwaliteit en toekomst – verkenning van duurzaamheid (RIVM, Bilthoven). Summary available in English
Sociaal-Economische Raad (SER) (2003) Duurzaamheid vraagt om openheid. Social Economic Council, The Hague
Sociaal-Economische Raad (SER) (2000) De winst van waarden. Social Economic Council, The Hague
Tencati A., Perrini F., Pogutz S. (2004) New Tools to Foster Corporate Social Responsible Behaviour. Journal of Business Ethics 53: 173–190
Vringer, K.: 2005, Analysis of the Energy Requirement for Household Consumption (PhD Thesis, Utrecht University)
van Wijk, J. J., R. F. J. M. Engelen, and J. P. M. Ros: 2001, Model Effectiviteit Instrumenten-Energiebesparing industrie (MEI- Energie) (Bilthoven, Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu)
Willems M. (2003) Communicatie tussen onderneming en samenleving. Telos, Tilburg
World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (1987) Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, Oxford
van der Ziel M. B. (2003) De relevantie van maatschappelijke verslagen. Dissertation, Nyenrode
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0 ), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
About this article
Cite this article
Quaak, L., Aalbers, T. & Goedee, J. Transparency of Corporate Social Responsibility in Dutch Breweries. J Bus Ethics 76, 293–308 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9282-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9282-3