Ciencias Sociales

The objective of this dissertation has been twofold: First, to develop a systemic theoretical framework on which to base ideographic explanations of the nature, causes, dynamics, and consequences of corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate social action (CSA), and corporate social performance (CSP), with a focus on subsidiaries of multinational companies. This framework presents CSR, CSA, and CSP from the perspective of critical realism and morphogenetic social theory. Second, using that framework, to provide an explanatory account of CSR/CSA/CSP in the case of one particular subsidiary organization operating in Mexico Critical realism is a philosophy of science based on systems thinking. It assumes the existence of a reality independently of the researchers knowledge of it; however, its accessibility is not direct, but mediated. Real structures are not observable, but they have causal powers which can generate observable outcomes that may or may not be realized in specific situations. In the case of organizations, the actualization of the observable outcomes depends on a highly complex series of interactions between environmental constrains and corporate action. In critical realism, it is the task of the researcher to explain the causal mechanisms and the contingencies that vii operate in particular situations. In turn, morphogenetic social theory has been developed as a practical theory that complements critical realism in social science. This theory argues that cultural properties (i.e. the world of ideas) and social structures necessarily pre-date social actions; the causal powers of those structures operate only through the actions of agents, and agents have their own causal powers which are revealed in their mediated interplay with structure; in turn, human actions either reproduce or transform those structures. This dissertation presents a theoretical framework according to which, there are universal ethical principles and structural global factors that define and motivate CSR, but there are also many and more proximal factors that are idiosyncratic to each society. These causal factors emerge from both the cultural (ideational) and structural systems of each society. In the case of multinational companies and their subsidiaries, CSR causal factors emerge from the different cultural and structural systems in which these companies operate. In addition to their first-order (direct) causal influence, those causal factors have second-order relations of congruence or incongruence with one another. Their specific configuration in each time and place conditions, but does not determine, corporate social responses. The effect of those causal factors is necessarily mediated by the actions of managers, who also are endowed with causal powers. The interplay between moral and social causal factors and managerial actions shape corporate social action (CSA). Such corporate responses have as their outcome a certain level of corporate social performance (CSP), a construct which has several dimensions, some of them empirical, and some others placed at deeper levels of social reality which imply a certain moral and social stable positioning of the company in its environment, i.e. a certain degree of legitimacy. In addition, corporate social action and performance also have second-order effects on the organization and its managers, which contribute positively or negatively to the development of the organization and its members. viii The second part of the dissertations presents a single-case study. It refers to Mexfruco, a fruit exporting company located in Mexico, subsidiary of Interfruco, a U.S. corporation. The outcome of the study is an explanatory narrative of Mexfrucos CSA, which constitutes a “plausibility probe” of the abovementioned theoretical framework. The case study answers the question of which are the sources and nature of corporate moral and social responsibilities. A number of properties or causal factors are identified. They emerge from the socio-cultural system in which Mexfruco was embedded. In this way, causal factors of diverse nature are incorporated in one model, i.e. religious or philosophical motivations, institutional forces, patterns existing in the task environment, etc., add or subtract from each other to outline the complex causality of CSA. Those emergent properties stood in positions of complementarity or contradiction with one another, which defined a situational logic which predated, conditioned, and in turn, was confronted by managerial actions. Based on this analysis, three causal configurations of the companys CSA are proposed, corresponding to its actions oriented to workers, growers, and customers, respectively. A number of factors (or emergent properties) combined to create a given form of CSA. Managerial agency (discretion and ability) was a necessary condition in all causal configurations. The postulated causal configurations ideographically explain the observed CSA, and therefore, they exhibit properties that are valid for understanding other cases, despite the particularities of Mexfruco. By virtue of this, these causal configurations constitute hypotheses amenable to verification or modification in other cases or contexts. From the moral/social perspective, the desirable outcome of CSA is the creation of the various forms of legitimacy for the company which can be measured along a CSP profile. The last part of the case study explains how Mexfrucos CSA gained or maintained legitimacy, i.e. CSP, for the company.

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate how manager's attitudes toward, subjective norm about and perceived behavioral control over entering into strategic alliances, and the moderating role of manager's experience influence the manager's intention to enter into strategic alliances on behalf of his/her firm over the next two years. The research focus and specific research objectives were guided by a review of the relevant literature that revealed: (1) the identification of the marketing manager's important role in the implementation of the organization's strategy; (2) the need to investigate the psychological factors and cognitive structure of the marketing manager in order to fully assess his/her intentions to support entry of the firm into strategic alliances; and (3) the validation of the theory of planned behavior by incorporating experience in the model. iv This study attempted to close these gaps in prior research by investigating the role of manager's attitude toward, subjective norm about and perceived behavioral control over entering into strategic alliances and the use of manager's experience as a moderator of the relationship between manager's attitudes about, subjective norm toward and perceived behavioral control over and manager's intentions. Data was collected from marketing managers of 5 industries and subgroup analysis using multiple regression was used to test the conceptual model. Results indicate that marketing managers less experienced in strategic alliances tend to follow their attitudes about strategic alliances instead of their subjective norms. For managers more experienced in strategic alliances, results show that they tend to follow their subjective norms about entering into strategic alliances instead of their attitudes. A possible explanation can be found in the Institutional Theory of Organizations. Institutional theory (DiMaggio and Powell 1983) predicts that organizations seek to follow similar patterns of behavior based on their desire to reconcile to norms and their quest for legitimacy. Firms try to bargain with their reality by the adoption and use of institutionalized responses. As a result, this adoption helps the manager to deal with his/her perceived uncertainty by creating processes that make organizations more similar.

Ciencias Sociales

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