IFUs krav om CSR: en fordel for både udviklingslandene og det danske erhvervsliv?

摘要

Corporations today have become corporate citizens with much more complicated tasks than just to increase their profits. This has an impact on companies from the industrialized world which have moved their production, or a part of their business, to a less developed country. Outsourcing companies are being met with expectations of social responsible behavior that contributes to economic development and poverty reduction in the less developed host countries More weight has been given to foreign investments in the private sector of the developing countries. In Denmark, the Industrialisation Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), lend risk capital to Danish companies that plan to establish projects in a less developed country. To qualify for loans, IFU requires fulfillment of certain corporate social responsible (CSR) demands. In addition, projects must contribute to development of the private sector in the given host country. In this thesis I have put forward three main hypotheses. First hypothesis is that IFU’s requirements of CSR contribute to development in the host countries. The second hypothesis is that there is a connection between IFU’s requirements of CSR, and the ability of the company Press2 to attract and keep qualified labour. The last hypothesis is that both the less developed host countries and the borrowers benefit from working with IFUs demands of CSR. My investigations and discussions contribute to the ongoing debate of the role of the private sector in a developmental context. In this thesis I query the effectiveness of the CSR demands of IFU, both in respect to the host countries as well as the borrowers. To answer my hypotheses, I use a qualitative method, searching academic papers about development, as well as executing interviews of some of the key figures relevant to my investigations, i.e. some of the employees of Press2 and representatives from IFU. My main conclusion is that Press2s work with the CSR requirements of IFU, probably are a larger advantage for the company, than for the host country. Through the representative case of Press2, I problematize the actual effect of the CSR demands of IFU.