CSR i plast- och kemibranschen

Sammanfattning: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a topic that is becoming increasingly important in today's society. CSR is a concept whereby companies voluntarily integrate social and environmental concerns both in their business but also in interaction with their stakeholders. The society of today sets high expectations for how companies take their social responsibilities, especially in industries where the risks to individuals and the environment are high. In this study, we tried to answer the following questions; what kind of responsibility do companies in the plastics and chemicals industry claim to take and why might this be due? What differences exist between the investigated companies in the industry and what may these differences be rooted in? The purpose of this study was to obtain an understanding of the interest in working on sustainability in the plastics and chemicals industry. In our thesis we have chosen to use a deductive approach, where we studied the three companies’ sustainability reports or similar materials relating to issues on CSR with the help of a checklist. The checklist has served as a tool for the empirical material. In the theoretical part, we have chosen to include theories relating to the CSR concept, structure, and the driving forces behind corporate responsibility. We have also chosen to include stakeholder and legitimacy theory. Other theories such as Triple Bottom Line and Carroll's pyramid of CSR are also presented. We have in this study concluded that it is necessary for companies to demonstrate that they take responsibility for all its stakeholders and not just for shareholders. All three companies put great emphasis on accounting for the environmental liability issues which may be due to the expectations regarding the ethical responsibility for the environment are high in this sector. The industry is heavily regulated in terms of product safety with the result that this is something that is considered being important and relevant to companies when they set up their reports.