Corporate social responsibility in the supply chain : an assessment of Norwegian textile companies' motivation, use of standards and external services

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has since the last 60 years developed and increased its importance within companies. Within companies CSR can be used as a strategy. The literature of CSR is limited but existing theories have different viewpoints of CSR and how it should be used by companies in business. Today companies’ motivation and use of different standards related to CSR is an important and much debated theme in media and organizations. This thesis discovers how different companies within the clothing industry are motivated for their CSR and what kind of standards they have implemented. In this study case studies of three companies have been used to complete the study. The three companies are HellyHansen, Viking Footwear and Nextsport. The main findings of this thesis are related to motivation behind CSR in the supply chain, choices of CSR standards and consequences of use of external services. The study provides how characteristics of the company’s CSR in the supply chain are linked together with the company’s motivation behind CSR in the supply chain. Further the motivation can be linked to the choice of CSR standards in the supply chain. The implementation of the standards can be related to outsource because of use of external services for best possible implementation. The final finding of this study is related to consequences of outsourcing and how outsourcing can increase motivation and focus on CSR in supply chain.