Emerging Market Multinationals and International Corporate Social Responsibility Standards: Bringing Animals to the Fore
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Emerging Market Multinationals and International Corporate Social Responsibility Standards: Bringing Animals to the Fore Germano Glufke Reis1 · Carla Forte Maiolino Molento2 Received: 29 July 2018 / Accepted: 7 March 2019 © Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract The literature presents a broad approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which aggregates a diversity of issues, such as the environment, labor conditions, and human rights. We addressed the impact of increasing CSR demands during the internationalization of emerging market multinationals (EMNs) on one particular subject, animal welfare (AW). This subject raises important ethical concerns, especially as we understand that animals are sentient beings. Through content analysis of annual reports, we tracked the evolution of AW-CSR activities throughout the internationalization of two large Brazilian meat-processing multinationals as they accessed markets with complex AW regulations. We also synthetized findings on broiler chicken on-farm AW research in Brazil and conducted interviews to gauge the impact of CSR standards on animals. Our findings show that, although EMNs that enter developed markets engage with various standards, the impacts of standard enforcement on actual welfare are not straightforward and call for broader AW and animal ethics developments. Uneven results among AW criteria indicate that some aspects are prioritized over others. Furthermore, some actions of actors such as EMNs and low-tier suppliers seem to counterbalance the expected impact of normative pressures to change the lives of animals for the better. We conclude that AW standards may improve AW in emerging markets; but these standards do not appear to be sufficiently stringent, and require improvements to have a more significant positive impact. A major signal emerging from this research is the fundamental need to broaden the animal ethics debate regarding the use of animals to produce meat. Keywords Animal ethics · Animal welfare · Corporate social responsibility · Emerging market multinationals Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in emerging market multinationals (EMNs) is receiving increasing attention due to their unique features and internationalization patterns (Thite et al. 2014), and the relevance of the social and environmental impacts of their operations at home and abroad (Doh et al. 2015). As they expand outside their home countries, these firms must comply with internationally required safety, quality, and CSR standards. Oftentimes, EMNs CSR * Germano Glufke Reis [email protected] Carla Forte Maiolino Molento [email protected] 1
Management School, UFPR Federal University of Parana, Av. Lothário Meissner, 632, Jd Botânico, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
Animal Welfare Laboratory, UFPR Federal University of Parana, Rua dos Funcionários, 1540 Juvevê, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
2
investments are also motivated by the need to strengthen their corporate image, especially when they internationalize to more developed markets (Zyglidopoulos et al. 2016),
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