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Heightened interest in business-conflict linkages has materialized with the advent of globalization and the rise of multinational
corporations (MNCs). We examine business-conflict linkages in this article both theoretically and empirically. Theoretically,
we examine three streams of the relevant academic literature: the academic business and societ...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... on the three streams of literature presented earlier, it becomes clear that there are many com- monalities and complementarities that can be effec- tively leveraged to enhance our understanding of the array of potential business firm interventions in con- flict situations. Our proposed matrix (Figure 3) therefore attempts to integrate the main typologies of business engagement in conflict zones on offer in the academic business society literature (e.g., Wolf et al., 2007), the practitioner business and society literature (e.g., Nelson, 2000), and the international business political behavior literature (e.g., Gladwin and Walter, 1980;Weidenbaum, 1980). The horizontal axis of the matrix depicts the CSR and peace building orientation of business firms, outlining a low CSR and peace building orientation (or coping strategy) at one end of the CSR con- tinuum and a high CSR and peace building orien- tation (or conflict resolution strategy) at the other end. ...
Context 2
... quick glance, the strong affinities and potential overlap between the different streams become readily apparent, particularly Factors 1 and 4. Laying out the factors in this way therefore brings out the strong parallelism between them, and suggests that these factors can indeed be used synergistically to assess the response behaviors of companies operating in conflict zones. Unlike Factors 2-4 which have been presented in the literature to date as tentative strategies with no antecedent determinants, Factor 1 (conflict behavior) at the top of Figure 3 builds on two dimensions, namely, assertiveness -a function of outcome stakes and relative power and coopera- tiveness -a function of relationship quality and interest interdependence. Integrating this factor, and drawing parallelism from there to the other streams thus constitutes a step forward in enhancing our understanding of relevant antecedents of specific CSR and conflict resolution strategies which have not been systematically considered in the business and society literature (academic and practitioner). ...
Context 3
... sum, three plausible types of CSR and peace building orientations (low, moderate and high) are synthesized in Figure 3 drawing on the relevant literature. While this constitutes a significant advance- ment, in practice, the classification process should be treated with care, given the fluidity of firm responses in conflict zones, and the difficulty relating to neat categorizations. ...
Context 4
... this constitutes a significant advance- ment, in practice, the classification process should be treated with care, given the fluidity of firm responses in conflict zones, and the difficulty relating to neat categorizations. For example, a passive reaction strategy in relation to Factor 2 may correspond to a business as usual strategy in relation to Factor 4. Similarly, the accommodation, competitive, and compromise strategies captured in the middle dashed boxes of Figure 3 all constitute a moderate CSR and peace building orientation and distinctions in relation to their relative intensity are certainly tricky. As per the original conception of Gladwin and Walter (1980), compromise was depicted, however, as a slightly more progressive form of CSR and peace building orientation because it involves elements of both cooperation and assertiveness. ...
Context 5
... research made use of semi-structured interviews whereby an interview guide was prepared based on the literature review and designed to elicit prompts to broad themes or questions. Specifically, we sought to inquire in our interviews about three broad areas (Table VII), namely, (1) perceptions of risk factors and risk management approach as important background information (Table II), (2) the perceived salience of the four critical situational variables outlined in the literature review as determinants of conflict behavior orientations (Table III; Figure 3), and (3) MNC- specific actions and behaviors prior to, during, and postconflict situations. This allows drawing pre- liminary correlations between perceptions of situa- tional variables or antecedents and actual business Dima Jamali and Ramez Mirshak firm strategies in conflict situations as proposed in our typology (Figure 3). ...
Context 6
... we sought to inquire in our interviews about three broad areas (Table VII), namely, (1) perceptions of risk factors and risk management approach as important background information (Table II), (2) the perceived salience of the four critical situational variables outlined in the literature review as determinants of conflict behavior orientations (Table III; Figure 3), and (3) MNC- specific actions and behaviors prior to, during, and postconflict situations. This allows drawing pre- liminary correlations between perceptions of situa- tional variables or antecedents and actual business Dima Jamali and Ramez Mirshak firm strategies in conflict situations as proposed in our typology (Figure 3). The themes illustrated in Table VII therefore provided a common stimulus around which inter- pretive comparisons could be made, with the option available to explore in more depth areas of signifi- cance to particular interviewees. ...
Context 7
... back to Figure 3, Factor 4, the MNCs in the sample clearly refrained from a ''take advan- tage'' strategy or ''withdrawal'' strategy, opting rather mostly for a ''business as usual'' strategy. In-kind donations and humanitarian relief efforts may be considered as modest attempts at proactive engage- ment. ...
Context 8
... insights can be derived, however, when considering Factor 1 in Figure 3 relating to modes of conflict management and the situational determi- nants of conflict strategies. In relation to Factor 1, it is clear that the behaviors of MNCs in the sample materialized mostly in the form of ''compromise'' (moderately assertive and moderately cooperative) or what Gladwin and Walter (1980) refer to as ''sharing'' strategies. ...
Context 9
... selection of this compromise or sharing strategy can, in turn, be justified or under- stood when considering reported perceptions of the relevant situational variables examined. Firms reported in this respect mixes of positive and negative reactions to dimensions of outcome stakes, power advantage, interest interdependence, and quality of relations, which translated into mostly compromise or sharing political behavior strategies by the MNCs and a moderate CSR and peace building orientation as depicted on the horizontal axis in our matrix (Figure 3). ...
Context 10
... is worth noting in this respect that the assess- ment of situational variables we obtained through the empirical fieldwork points to an interesting new combination of high outcome stakes, low relative power, low interdependence, and high relationship quality, corresponding in the aggregate to a com- promise strategy, although it does not exactly rep- licate the presentation of these four situational variables as moderate in Factor 1/ Figure 3. This is very interesting, suggesting that different combina- tions of these situational variables are also plausible for this middle ground conflict response strategy (i.e., compromise). ...
Context 11
... further on these situational variables, it becomes clear that perceptions of high outcome stakes are not sufficient to induce MNC engage- ment/active collaboration or in other words a high CSR and peace building orientation in Figure 3. These have to be supplemented by perceptions of strong bargaining power and congruence of ends and means in the context of high interest interdepen- dence. ...
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Citations
... In terms of peacekeeping, we have suggested how MNEs can directly or indirectly have negative impacts in conflict areas (see Owens, 2022, for a review). First, MNE practices in conflict environments often lack adequate responsibility and may be unethical (e.g., Jamali & Mirshak, 2010). For example, in some instances, companies may inadvertently or knowingly support armed groups (e.g., terrorism financing). ...
Violent conflicts are events that involve the purposeful use of violence by state and/or non-state actor(s) to achieve political objectives, which result in disruptions to the institutional environment where actors such as civil society and multinational enterprises (MNEs) are situated. Examples of violent conflicts include civil and interstate wars and terrorist attacks. Violent conflicts typically have multiple, often devastating consequences that pose difficult policy challenges for governments and MNEs. This perspective offers an international business (IB) research and policy agenda to advance our understanding of the linkages between violent conflict and MNEs, focusing on three IB research and policy frontiers: the mechanisms through which MNEs are exposed to violent conflicts globally, MNE strategies and violent conflicts, and the interplay between MNEs and violent conflict environments. We also discuss appropriate datasets and research methods for studying MNEs and violent conflict.
... Aunque también uno de los gerentes señaló que para él sería relevante incrementar la productividad y acceder a nuevos mercados, como producto de la construcción de paz. Estos últimos aspectos coinciden con las propuestas de autores como (Amis et al., 2006;Jamali & Mirshak, 2010;Miklian, 2016;Mueller-Hirth, 2017;Nelson, 1999;Prandi & Lozano, 2010;Rettberg, 2016), quienes destacan que efectivamente el compromiso con la paz, llevando a cabo acciones de RSE genera beneficios positivos como mayores ingresos, mejoramiento de la reputación, minimización de riesgos y dinamismo en el negocio por el acceso a ciertos sitios, que previamente se dificultaba por la situación de inseguridad. La respuesta anterior también muestra el desconocimiento de normatividad colombiana que actualmente ya ofrece reducción de impuestos para invertir en las zonas afectadas por el conflicto armado y los beneficios que las empresas tienen para aportar a la paz. ...
... Aunque también uno de los gerentes señaló que para él sería relevante incrementar la productividad y acceder a nuevos mercados, como producto de la construcción de paz. Estos últimos aspectos coinciden con las propuestas de autores como (Amis et al., 2006;Jamali & Mirshak, 2010;Miklian, 2016;Mueller-Hirth, 2017;Nelson, 1999;Prandi & Lozano, 2010;Rettberg, 2016), quienes destacan que efectivamente el compromiso con la paz, llevando a cabo acciones de RSE genera beneficios positivos como mayores ingresos, mejoramiento de la reputación, minimización de riesgos y dinamismo en el negocio por el acceso a ciertos sitios, que previamente se dificultaba por la situación de inseguridad. La respuesta anterior también muestra el desconocimiento de normatividad colombiana que actualmente ya ofrece reducción de impuestos para invertir en las zonas afectadas por el conflicto armado y los beneficios que las empresas tienen para aportar a la paz. ...
... 4. Acciones pacificadoras (Jamali y Mirshak, 2010;Prandi y Lozano, 2010;Wolf et al., 2007). En esta categoría incluimos los esfuerzos identificables (que consisten en 26 acciones, 5,5 %) de las empresas (que comprenden 21, 29,2 %) para evitar la escalada, continuación o recurrencia del conflicto. ...
Este trabajo analiza cómo las prácticas empresariales responsables pueden contribuir a la resiliencia social en entornos de guerra. La literatura previa ha estudiado el papel de las empresas en el alivio de las consecuencias de diferentes shocks. Sin embargo, la importante brecha de la contribución de las acciones responsables para asegurar la resiliencia social en tiempo de guerra permanece sin explorar. Además, estudios previos no han analizado las respuestas de las empresas durante un periodo prolongado después de un shock. Analizamos las 100 empresas más grandes que operan en Ucrania e identificamos 476 acciones responsables durante el primer año de la guerra que comenzó en 2022. Clasificamos y categorizamos las diferentes acciones y evaluamos las estrategias de las empresas que contribuyen a generar resiliencia social. En suma, aquellas empresas que han mostrado un mayor potencial para construir resiliencia social son aquellas que articulan una respuesta que incluye acciones tempranas abiertas a una amplia gama de grupos de interés y que establecen una variedad de acciones durante un periodo extenso.
... Such activities are most often operationalised through CSR (Miklian, 2017), which has become an important tool in guiding business involvement in peace-related activity (Rettberg, 2016). In fact, as Jamali and Mirshak (2010) argue, the contemporary CSR discourse calls for businesses to embrace voluntary initiatives that reflect specific social roles and expectations beyond legal compliance. This links well with the definition of CSR suggested by Farmaki and Stergiou (2022) who stated that CSR is conceptualised "as the business actions that provide social good beyond company interests and the requirements of law". ...
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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been argued to contribute to the reconciliation and peacebuilding efforts of destinations that have or are experienced conflict. Even so, little academic attention has been paid to the examination of the interface between CSR and peace within tourism settings. To this end, the aim of this study is to examine the potential of tourism companies to contribute to peace through their CSR activities. Specifically, we draw from the case of the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, which was established by Stelios Hadjioannou (founder of Easy Group). We focus on the peace awards that the Foundation offers for bi-communal entrepreneurial activities in Cyprus, an island that has long been tormented by conflict. Through semi-structured interviews performed with awardees, this study illuminates the peace through tourism literature by evaluating the effectiveness of their CSR activities in peacebuilding. The chapter concludes that there are various exogenous factors that negatively impact the effectiveness of CSR on peacebuilding stemming primarily from a lack of awareness among interested parties and the little support provided from the government and makes recommendations on the improvement of related schemes.
... In this context, Farmaki and Stergiou (2021) identified the role of the private sector as influential on peace through tourism. Specifically, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of international tourism and hospitality companies are integral in promoting reconciliation and peace (Jamali & Mirshak, 2010). Thus, tourism needs to be placed in a wider context of political, economic and social factors that shape a conflict setting and examined in terms of its benefits, costs, effects and influences on a society beyond the economic realm. ...
... It is also aggregated for the entire manufacturing subsector, at the district level, and then, for each variable, we compute the ratio of its value for the foreign share of the subsector over its value for the entire subsector. This second indicator enables us to control for the presence of domestic firms in a subsector-district, informing whether any observed correlation with local violent conflicts is specific to the presence of foreign firms, or related to industrial activity more generally (Jamali and Mirshak, 2010). ...
The private sector has become an important part of the peace and conflict landscape, including the business case that multinational corporations (MNCs) make for peacebuilding support. This article uses the Indonesian context to explore the foreign MNC-conflict relationship in the manufacturing sector and to challenge the inherent value of this business case across all business sectors. We analyze the effects of various dimensions of corporate investment-based presence on violent conflicts, utilizing a cross-sectional model at the district level. We find that in industrial subsectors that are upward in the value chain, intensive in raw materials and low-skilled work (e.g., Heavy Industries, Food & Tobacco), foreign firm presence exacerbates local violent conflicts. Results in other sectors further down the value chain confirm the potentially positive role of MNCs in peacebuilding. These findings are also relevant for the wider CSR literature in that relationships between host countries and MNCs in fragile or conflict-affected areas are more complex than previously acknowledged, and call for additional research into sector-specific variances on business impacts in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
... Inter-state wars present a significant problem for MNEs as wars, especially when they involve major economic and political powers, typically shock the highly interdependent national and supranational economic and political system (Casson and da Silva Lopes, 2013;Jamali and Mirshak, 2010;Darendeli et al., 2021;Witte et al., 2020;Lubinski and Wadhwani, 2020;White et al., 2021). MNEs have historically developed strategies to operate in such volatile settings (Delios and Henisz, 2003;Getz and Oetzel, 2009;Casson and da Silva Lopes, 2013;Darendeli et al., 2021;Jamali and Mirshak, 2010;White et al., 2021), and so we witnessed considerable corporate action, inaction and sometimes reversed decisions in response to the Russian-Ukrainian war. ...
... Inter-state wars present a significant problem for MNEs as wars, especially when they involve major economic and political powers, typically shock the highly interdependent national and supranational economic and political system (Casson and da Silva Lopes, 2013;Jamali and Mirshak, 2010;Darendeli et al., 2021;Witte et al., 2020;Lubinski and Wadhwani, 2020;White et al., 2021). MNEs have historically developed strategies to operate in such volatile settings (Delios and Henisz, 2003;Getz and Oetzel, 2009;Casson and da Silva Lopes, 2013;Darendeli et al., 2021;Jamali and Mirshak, 2010;White et al., 2021), and so we witnessed considerable corporate action, inaction and sometimes reversed decisions in response to the Russian-Ukrainian war. For example, British Petroleum (BP) exited from its $14bn stake in Russian oil giant Rosneft, while Uniqlo remained in the market to date (Financial Times, 2022e, 2022f, 2022h). ...
... Another relevant research stream, not specific to inter-state war, examines corporate responses to politically violent markets (Oetzel et al., 2007;Westermann-Behaylo, 2009;Getz and Oetzel, 2009;Jamali and Mirshak, 2010;Alzola, 2011;Oetzel and Getz, 2012;Oh and Oetzel, 2017;Darendeli et al., 2021). While these studies to some extent describe how MNEs benefit by attaining legitimacy in politically violent markets, the links between MNEs and institutions in politically violent markets are not their primary focus. ...
Purpose
Wars, and violent conflicts generally, can generate significant institutional dynamics and new legitimacy pressures for multinational enterprises (MNEs). The purpose of this paper is to understand the nature or source of institutional pressures facing MNEs in war and to examine how MNEs respond and navigate these institutional pressures.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper.
Findings
Through the theoretical lens of institutional theory and drawing on insights from the devastating Russian–Ukrainian war in Europe, the study provides a framework that explains the nature of institutional pressures impacting MNEs in a major war conflict and how MNEs respond to these pressures. Central to the framework is the impact of formal and informal institutions on MNEs during war. As a result of regulatory and social pressures, MNEs have to make important strategic decisions either to protect their legitimacy or to defend their economic objectives against institutional demands.
Originality/value
As the paper situates the pressures of war for MNEs in a formal and informal institutional context, this offers a new approach to understanding the costs and pressures of war on MNEs.
... Stakeholders in the business include employees, shareowners, suppliers, lenders, customers, society (Freeman 1984, p. 32), distributors, communities, andgovernment (Chandler 2014;Moon 2014), and it also includes other agencies upon whom the organisation's existence depends. Further, with the rise of globalisation, privatisation, and liberalisation in the 1980s and 1990s, the world not only saw the growth of new multinational corporations (Jamali and Mirshak 2010) around the globe but also witnessed the rise in inequality in wealth distribution (Hassan and Bezbaruah 2020), environmental pollution (Carroll 2008), and unethical workplace practices of corporations. These activities forced consumers, civil society, media, and non-governmental organisations to criticise and organise campaigns against corporations to behave responsibly in society (Moon 2014). ...
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in India have been made mandatory for corporations through the Companies Act of 2013. The rise of regulations on CSR, the subsequent growth in CSR funds, and growing controversies over CSR regulations and compliances have raised questions over the regulated approach and ethos of social responsibility. In this background, this article examines the context of emergence and objectives of different sections of the Act, and controversies surrounding CSR policies, besides analysing the patterns and trends of CSR compliances. The study has adopted discourse analysis method to analyse CSR policies and compliances. The study's findings reveal that CSR practice guidelines are coercive and (over) regulated, and it witnessed misconduct by corporations in various forms of CSR compliance. Simultaneously, the regulations have brought positive changes in CSR transparency and accountability, as well as in the expenditures with the inclusion of different social welfare sectors in CSR scope. The manifestations of the CSR policies still fail to provide a clear scenario regarding implementation. However, the entire idea of corporate responsibility regulations is in a nascent state.
... The existing research has primarily focused on how enterprises respond to violent conflict after its outbreak. It is suggested that firms can engage in peacebuilding activities like negotiation, arbitration and condemnation to address violent conflict at its source (Getz & Oetzel, 2009;Jamali & Mirshak, 2010;Oetzel & Miklian, 2017;Oetzel et al., 2007). However, it is still debatable whether or not small businesses can play an instrumental role in peacebuilding (Joseph et al., 2021). ...
Large foreign firms’ interventions in violent conflicts have drawn increasing research attention. Nonetheless, scant research has investigated how foreign small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which have little capacity in peacebuilding, can protect themselves from violent conflict risk. Drawing upon the instrumental stakeholder theory (IST), this study explores two specific local community-oriented corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices (i.e., corporate philanthropy and workforce localization) as violent conflict risk buffering strategies for foreign SMEs. Further, we examine their varying effects in different institutional environments (i.e., host country media freedom and labor rights protection). Using data from a cross-country survey of Chinese foreign SMEs combined with archival data from multiple sources, we empirically confirm the attenuating effects of both corporate philanthropy and workforce localization on foreign SMEs’ violent conflict risk. Besides, we discover that host country labor rights protection strengthens the mitigation impact of workforce localization on violent conflict risk. Our study advances the literature on IST and CSR by revealing the risk mitigation mechanism of CSR activities for foreign SMEs and elucidating its institutional boundary conditions.
