Actions Speak Louder than Words: Competitive Conduct vs. CSR Policy

The chapter examines the extent to which the internally conceived competitive strategy of some of the world’s largest food and drink multi¬national corporations [MNCs] reflects Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) principles. The starting point is consideration of the findings of the on-going Oxfam ‘Behind the brands’ campaign. The campaign relies on publicly available information regarding the sourcing of agricultural commodities from developing countries to assess MNCs’ social and environmental policies. In spite of having significant global influence and power, all ten MNCs included in the study have had limited impact on facilitating a more just food system. MNCs claim that there are critical determining factors that lie outside their control. The competitive strategy provides an example of an area within MNC control. The focus of the discussion is on MNC competitive conduct and on evidence of price fixing and other actions aimed at restricting competition, which has led to fines and other sanctions being imposed by competition authorities. It is concluded that the inclusion of competitive conduct as an indicator results in very different MNC rankings from that produced using balanced scorecard methodology as applied in the Oxfam campaign. The rankings are almost completely reversed. It raises the wider question of the extent to which a firm’s public statements purporting to uphold values consistent with the promotion of CSR should be relied upon without supporting evidence.