A New Perspective on CSV and CSR. An Evaluation of the Concepts and its Impact on Sustainability : - A Study on Nestlé, Pfizer and Gekås

Sammanfattning: Today there is an ongoing debate around the legitimacy of the sustainability concept: Creating Shared Value (CSV), as compared to the more traditional sustainability concept: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The authors argue there is a research gap as of how companies work with sustainability depending on which concept that is applied. The authors therefore investigate if the two concept are driving factors for how companies work with sustainability. If these concepts are not the driving factors, the authors tries to identify other variables that can be of importance. In order to gain a broad understanding of companies’ driving factors, the authors also choose to investigate market intelligence and strategy connected to the area of sustainability. We shed light on the issue by providing empirical evidence gathered through a qualitative research conducted on the companies: Nestlé, Pfizer and Gekås. The authors conclude that the concepts may be of importance, but are not the driving factors for how companies work with sustainability. Instead we suggest that companies should embed a clear social purpose into their organization that can guide their business activities and sustainability efforts.