Globalization has changed the way businesses interact with their clients, compete, and develop corporate strategies. Through globalization, companies can reach customers globally and sell their products or provide services to a more significant number of individuals. While this establishes a better opportunity for development and financial gain, it also pressures organizations to rethink their impact on the societies where they operate. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) outlies the critical duties of a business beyond its fiduciary obligations connected to profit, such as the impact on the environment and the society where this company operates. As such, it creates some unique challenges related to investing in practices that will mitigate the adverse societal and environmental impact of the corporation, which is especially important in the case of a transnational company. By combining the theories of CSR and globalization, one will be able to leverage the opportunities, such as better reputation management and increased profits, and establish a company as a well-respected brand globally.
The topic chosen for this research is globalization and CSR because it is a unique and novel concept for transnational businesses. Cases, such as Volkswagen’s reputational crisis in 2015 connected to emissions, suggests that companies can be impacted not only by the regulatory and political environments (Birch et al., 2016). They depend on the society in which they operate and considering the development of globalization. Transnational corporations can be subjected to pressure and reputational losses not only in one state but within their area of operations. The expected direction of this research is the exploration of the globalization and CSR concepts, their main theories, and case studies of companies such as Volkswagen to determine the impact of CSR. The working thesis for this research is the following – in a globalized world, transnational corporations can use CSR as an opportunity to manage risks and improve their reputation, which will beneficially affect the business. It was chosen because it incorporates the main ideas of the connection between CSR and globalization.
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