Biography

Jacqueline Mees-Buss is a casual lecturer and PhD candidate from the University of Sydney. Jacqueline started her career as a graduate trainee with Unilever in her country of birth, the Netherlands. She has worked as a senior executive for large multinationals in Europe, Asia and Australia. Frustrated that she did not have answers for the social and environmental challenges MNCs were facing in the 21st century, she returned to university in 2010. She hopes to complete her PhD in 2013.

Contact details:  j.mees@econ.usyd.edu.au

Abstract

Adverse side effects of rapid industrialisation and globalisation challenge the role and responsibility of large multinational corporations (MNCs) in the 21st century. Although sustainability and social impact appear on top of the agenda wherever top managers of the largest MNCs gather around the world, substantive change is still deemed ‘contentious at best’. This study is a critical study of the process of implementing a social mission in a large MNC that is publicly acknowledged as being at the forefront of CSR (Unilever). The focus is on the sequence of events that shaped the emergence of a global brand with a social mission (Dove). Seventy interviews were conducted with participants at all levels and in different locations around the world. It became clear that there were multiple (conflicting) stories about what happened and why. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was used to analyse these conflicting accounts and to unmask the underlying ideologies to explain the conflicting perceptions of reality. The analysis sheds new light on the inner workings of the MNC ; the underlying ideological forces that enable as well as restrict the MNC’s transition towards greater social responsibility ; and the unavoidable (but suppressed) political process driving this.