Browsing by Author "Kourula, Arno"

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  • Company engagement with nongovernmental organizations from a corporate responsibility perspective
    (2009) Kourula, Arno
     School of Business | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
    Organizations from a Corporate Responsibility Perspective Purpose – This doctoral dissertation examines the relationship between corporations and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The key research question of the thesis is the following: Why and how do companies engage with nongovernmental organizations to demonstrate corporate responsibility in different institutional contexts? The most important motives for engaging with NGOs include gaining legitimacy and knowledge, managing risk, improving reputation and increasing operational efficiency. The thesis argues that companies need to understand NGO relations in a more comprehensive and strategic way, adopt a portfolio model to evaluate NGO engagement forms and strategies, improve the assessment of business and societal outcomes of engagement as well as understand the effect of national institutional and civil society base issues on NGO engagement. Company-NGO engagement should not be seen as the primary concern of all companies in the management of operations or investment decisions, but especially large multinational companies have a lot to gain from improved stakeholder management and corporate responsibility programs. Theories and methods – The summary part and the four articles of the thesis are grounded in concepts and theories from four related and intertwined academic literatures: those of international business, business and society, management, and civil society. One of the articles is a literature review and the other three are based on single or multiple case study methodologies. The summary of the thesis and the three case studies emphasize the corporate responsibility perspective. Article summaries – The thesis includes four articles: A) a systematic literature review of 88 articles published in the academic fields of business and society, international business, and management analyzes the current state of research on the company-NGO interface (Kourula & Laasonen, forthcoming 2010); B) a cross-national case study of a forest products company examines the importance of institutional context on NGO-corporate relations (Kourula, forthcoming 2010); C) a multiple case study categorizes the engagement of companies with NGOs into three corporate responsibility actions – philanthropy, integration and innovation – and examines the business and societal outcomes of engagement (Kourula & Halme, 2008); D) a longitudinal multiple case study examines the socially responsible purchasing strategies, organizational forms and tools that retail companies adopt in response to stakeholder pressure (Haltsonen, Kourula & Salmi, 2007). Key contributions – The thesis has two main contributions: bringing geographic and institutional context to company-NGO engagement research and developing and refining corporate responsibility frameworks. More specifically, key theoretical developments of the thesis and articles are 1) building of a comprehensive framework of company-NGO engagement, 2) development of a new concept (civil society distance), 3) evaluation of a classification of company-NGO engagement strategies (sponsorship, dialogue and partnership), 4) refinement, adaptation and empirical examination of corporate responsibility models (an international CR model, a classification of CR types into philanthropy, integration and innovation and a categorization of socially responsible purchasing strategies), 5) a hypothesis regarding the business and societal outcomes of NGO engagement, and 6) the presentation of theoretical propositions related to company-NGO engagement.
  • Intermediary roles in regulatory programs: Toward a role-based framework
    (2019-06) Kourula, Arno; Paukku, Markus; Peterman, Andrew; Koria, Mikko
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    This paper develops a role-based framework of intermediaries in regulatory programs. In examining the types of roles that organizations adopt in regulation and governance, we argue that roles have important implications for understanding organizational and program level dynamism and outcomes. We use the Regulator–Intermediary–rule-Taker framework to describe how organizational roles can be adopted through assignment, appropriation, or promotion. We then go deeper into how intermediaries adopt a variety of different roles in key regulatory programs. We examine generic intermediary roles across programs that involve four main groups of activities: creating and/or organizing, coordinating between programs, supporting implementation, and voicing an opinion. All in all, our role-based framework allows for a novel relational way to understand interorganizational and institutional dynamism in complex, interactive, and ever-changing regulatory regimes.
  • MNE–civil society interactions: a systematic review and research agenda
    (2024-03) Bruijn, Kayleigh; Georgallis, Panikos; Albino-Pimentel, João; Kourula, Arno; Teegen, Hildy
     A2 Katsausartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Multinational enterprises (MNEs) and civil society (CS) interact in many ways across countries, with significant implications for these actors and for broader society. We review 166 studies of MNE–CS interactions in international business, general management, business and society, political science, sociology, and specialized non-profit journals over three decades. We synthesize this large and fragmented literature to characterize the nature (cooperation or conflict) and context (geography, industry, and issue) of MNE–CS interactions and uncover their antecedents, outcomes, and moderators. Our review reveals important blind spots in our understanding of the antecedents and outcomes of MNE–CS interactions and uncovers substantial discrepancy between the contexts of real-world MNE–CS interactions and the contexts examined in the literature. We propose actionable recommendations to (i) better indicate and expand the contexts where MNE–CS interactions are studied; (ii) enrich understanding of the antecedents of MNE–CS interactions by leveraging institutional and cultural perspectives; (iii) reorient research on the outcomes of MNE–CS interactions by examining the temporal dynamics of MNE learning and legitimacy, and (iv) emphasize societal relevance as reflected, for example, in green capabilities and moral markets. We hope this review will inspire new inter-disciplinary perspectives on MNE–CS interactions and inform research addressing urgent societal challenges.
  • Necessity-driven circular economy in low-income contexts: How informal sector practices retain value for circularity
    (2022-09) Korsunova, Angelina; Halme, Minna; Kourula, Arno; Levänen, Jarkko; Lima-Toivanen, Maria
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Low-income informal sector contexts are rife in practices that retain value of materials and goods, but in the academic literature and policy debates these practices are seldom considered as part of the circular economy (CE). This is a major omission in CE discourse, as over 60 percent of the world’s employed population is in the informal sector and many of them make their living from circularity practices. Hence, our paper advances a globally covering understanding of CE by focusing on local practices constituting CE in the overlooked contexts of low-income informal markets of emerging economies, and on the motives behind the practices. To that end we introduce the notion of Necessity-Driven Circular Economy, defined as a set of locally embedded and interlinked formal and informal practices aimed at restoring and retaining the value of goods and materials for as long as possible, based on economic necessity and opportunities for income generation. We substantiate this conceptual work with our empirical findings from low-income urban communities in Brazil, India, and Tanzania. This allows us to capture the essential characteristics of necessity-driven circular economy. These characteristics draw attention to the social and cultural embeddedness and the interweaving of consumption and production in necessity-driven circular economy, as opposed to the dominant techno-economic and industry-focused circular economy conceptualizations that are typical in academic discourse and portray developed country contexts. Finally, we discuss conceptual and practical relevance of necessity-driven circular economy and point out its system-level implications for policymakers and businesses.
  • New Roles of Government in the Governance of Business Conduct: Implications for Management and Organizational Research
    (2019-08-01) Kourula, Arno; Moon, Jeremy; Salles-Djelic, Marie-Laure; Wickert, Christopher
     A2 Katsausartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    In this introductory paper for the special issue ?Government and the Governance of Business Conduct: Implications for Management and Organization?, we focus on government as an institution in the broader context of the governance of business conduct. We review the longevity and heterogeneity of governmental actors along with, and in relation to, the evolving role and place of business and civil society actors under the double challenge of privatization and globalization over the last three to four decades. In so doing we track the evolution of government?s primary governance roles. We suggest that part of the organization and management scholarship builds upon problematic assumptions when it comes to the role(s) of government in the governance of business conduct. We suggest that while governments might be losing some power, they are also acquiring and deploying it in other areas; that governments are taking on new governance roles in relation to business conduct; that government regulation may contribute positively to the governance of business conduct; and that government is an ever-important focus for management and organizational research. We show how the six contributing papers to the Special Issue both illustrate these arguments and reveal new roles for government in the contemporary governance of business conduct. We end by proposing a research agenda for the further exploration of government in governance.
  • The reporting of social responsibility by Finnish Corporations - A study of Kesko, Nokia and Fortum
    (2002) Kourula, Arno
     School of Business | Master's thesis