“They say they work in a sustainable way, but I don't really know” : building relationships between companies and their host communities, through CSR activities in Guatemala

Abstract

In this thesis the relationship between corporations and their host communities through CSR programs has been the main focus. First it is stated that companies have been contributing to conflicts such as human rights abuses and ecological damage, through their main focus on profit and increasing shareholder value. Many of the business operations and direct foreign investments worldwide take place in countries either in the midst of conflict or in post-conflict settings (Gupta et al. 2002). Further, it is said that MNCs are powerful social and economic agents, both in regards to the resources they control and by their mobility and capacity to shift resources to locations where they can be used most profitably (Roach 2005; Scherer, Palazzo and Baumann 2006). This also gives them the opportunity to choose under which legal system and regions they want to operate (Ibid). However, it is also implied that CSR can be part of the solution to such problems through focusing on the “triple bottom line” – the totality of the corporation`s financial, social and environmental performance when conducting business (Elkington 1998).