ABSTRACT
This single-case study deals with the development and the implementation of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy of a French multinational (the Group), at a group level and at a subsidiary level in a host country, China, in order to reveal the determinants of the CSR internationalization strategy of the company.
A combination of different factors influences this strategy which is global at the development level and integrated/transnational at the implementation level (Bondy and Starkey, 2014).
In particular, Group agency (Blindheim, 2015; van Marrewijk, 2003) has turned out to be a key driver of the CSR strategy of the Group and of its internationalization. Group agency and the involvement of stakeholders in the development of the CSR strategy also signify the importance of strategic drivers. Furthermore, the influence of national institutions and coercive isomorphic pressure from local stakeholders make local adaptation of CSR strategy implementation inevitable. Therefore, the influence of institutions on the CSR strategy of a firm can only be fully understood if both strategic and institutional factors are taken into account (cf. Peng et al., 2008). Finally, the results show how difficult it is to grasp the CSR practiced in host countries if CSR developed at the group level is not integrated in the analysis.
