Expectation versus reality? How international companies in Myanmar perceive their role in conflict and peace
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2022-08-13
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en
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In recent years, the interlinkage between the fields of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), international development, and conflict prevention and resolution has grown. There has been an increasing body of literature on the potential of the private sector as actor in the peace process. Scholars seem to encourage this form of responsible or ethical business and advocate for the incorporation of conflict and peace-related matters into CSR/ESG strategies. However, the private sector has been reluctant to explicitly engage on these topics. This case study research investigates the way the large multinational corporations (MNCs) in Myanmar perceive their potential role in conflict, by analysing how they present conflict and peace in their CSR/ESG strategies and conducting interviews to investigate how they have responded to the coup. What becomes clear is that the expectation and reality do not align; there is a discrepancy between how we would normatively like to see the businesses respond to conflict, and how the businesses themselves perceive and present their role. Even though businesses increasingly emphasise ethical behaviour, they emphasise the importance of being neutral even more. However, in practice, businesses most of all seem to respond strongly to pressure.
Key words: Business for Peace; conflict, Corporate Social Responsibility; Environmental, Social and Governance; ethics; military coup; Multinational Corporations; Myanmar; neutrality; peacebuilding
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen