The interdependence of the global community resulting from globalization has put the public relations of transnational corporations on the spot to cater for the different expectations of their host and home publics. Corporate social responsibility provides an opportunity for these corporations to establish and maintain beneficial relationships with their host and home publics. This study focuses on the coordination mechanisms used in corporate social responsibility (CSR) in sub-Saharan Africa by transnational corporations (TNCs). The study by examines how the global CSR objective is maintained by the parent company in the subsidiaries in their bid to balance the international and local demands of their diverse stakeholders. The influence of the international business orientation on the kind of CSR activities carried out and how the role and importance of subsidiaries relates to the coordination mechanisms employed are examined. The study additionally looks at the importance of CSR and the motivation behind the CSR activities of the subsidiaries. Data for this study is generated from qualitative interviews of top and middle management staff and responses from a survey of over 100 subsidiaries of TNCs to answer the following research questions: RQ1: What coordination mechanisms do TNC's employ in their CSR efforts in subsidiaries in Cameroon? RQ2: Is international business strategy related to the strategic importance of local issues in the subsidiaries of TNCs? RQ3: How does the importance of subsidiaries of TNCs affect the coordination mechanisms used in CSR initiatives? RQ4: How important is the notion of CSR to corporate decision-making? RQ5: What are the motivations for CSR? Both the qualitative and quantitative research findings indicated that formalization was the most popular coordination mechanism used by TNCs in Cameroon with a lesser use of socialization and little evidence of centralization. The study also finds that the international business strategy of the TNCs is not related to the importance of local CSR issues. Positive associations were found between transnational, multinational and international business strategies and local CSR. Positive associations were also found between the multinational business strategy and global CSR. The findings also indicated that limited human and financial resources are put at the service of CSR and although the CSR motivations of the TNCs strongly favor business and moral motives, the moral motives outweigh those of business. The quantitative data from the study failed to support the relationship between subsidiary role and importance with the use of coordination mechanisms.
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