Being On the Right Side Corporate Social Responsibility Implementation in Large Firms –A Study within IKEA

Abstract: Accounting for the environmental and social impacts produced by the business or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), has arguably been one of the main topics and requisites within urban sustainability. Large companies having more impacts on the environment and the society due to amongst others the more diverse background of stakeholders and the more use of resources are more in the spotlight to implement CSR in their business. Companies which carelessly aim mainly for profitability and give less care to the environment are more and more proving to loose sustainability in their lifeline (Waldman, Kenett, & Zilberg, n.d.).This paper, using IKEA as a case study, has demonstrated the importance of CSR in larger firms. It has well demonstrated how and why large firms engage in CSR activities and how it could further enhance these activities in the upcoming demanding future. This has been done by presenting three theories, CSR communication, proactive and reactive CSR and motives for CSR. These theories principally show the effectiveness of CSR communication and a framework for successful internal and external communication; the difference and benefits of proactive and reactive CSR and which is more desirable; and finally the motives companies have to engage in both reactive and proactive CSR activities. With the help of these theories in the analysis section, this paper demonstrates how IKEA has used CSR in its framework to rebuild its reputation and how it has improved its sustainability by using proactive CSR strategies. The study further demonstrates how IKEA has proven that they are caring in gaining a sustainable future and presents some thoughts for further studies and practices.