Combining an institutional and sense-making perspective : the CSR practices of MNCs subsidiaries in the Arab region -

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the role of both the sense-making and the institutional theory in relation to the implementation of the CSR doctrines at both the MNC’s subsidiary level and the headquarter level respectively. It will further illustrate the numerous factors that result in the overlapping of both the sense-making and the institutional theory while implementing CSR activities in the host community. This study will tap on the legitimacy factor to further stress on the crucial role that the MNC subsidiary plays within a foreign context and the behaviors that it adopts to gain the acceptance and approval of its stakeholders. The analysis that was carried out reflects the situation of MNCs within the Arab context and portrays how actors at the subsidiary level make “sense” of the CSR themes devised at the headquarter level, and how much autonomy do they possess to gear and dismantle relevant CSR activities to their stakeholders. The results indicate that the CSR activities being implemented by the MNC subsidiary in the host country will generally fall under one of the pillars that are pre-devised at the headquarters and their main driver behind devising and implementing CSR is to increase their legitimacy with their stakeholders.