TRSM Research Presentation by Dr. Philip Walsh

Title:
A Strategic Framework for Corporate Responsibility in Canadian Companies Operating in Emerging Economies: Towards Creating A Shared Value Perspective

Description:
Corporate sustainability reporting has been recognized as a strategy for firms seeking to establish their legitimacy as sustainable companies. This study seeks to expand upon the existing empirical literature by examining not only how the firm may integrate corporate responsibility (CR) into their strategic approach but also to what degree certain corporate characteristics, including less-examined characteristics such as their level of internationalization and operation in emerging economies, might influence that integration. A review of 234 large Canadian-based, publicly-traded companies was undertaken to examine the use of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to identify how CR is integrated and to test hypotheses about the level by which sustainability reporting is associated with those firm characteristics. Our findings indicate that Canadian-based companies with operations in emerging economies are more likely to produce more comprehensive sustainability reporting than those who do not, suggesting heightened sensitivity to establishing strategic legitimacy when active in developing countries. The influences of corporate size, industry, and level of internationalization were found not to be significant.

Presenter:
Dr. Walsh is an Associate Professor, Entrepreneurship & Strategy at the Ted Rogers School of Management (TRSM) and a registered professional geoscientiest. He was formerly a Lecturer in Corporate Strategy and MBA Programme Director at the University of Surrey, U.K. Prior to joining academia in 2003, he was the Managing Director of a consultancy that provided strategic planning and policy services to major energy utilities, a number of governmental and municipal agencies, and various Canadian and British energy consuming organizations. Dr. Walsh's teaching and research covers a broad area of strategy, sustainability, energy economics and policy, and innovation. He is associated with a number of Ryerson's research centers including the Center for Urban Energy, the Ryerson Entrepreneurship Research Institute and the Institute for the Study of Corporate Social Responsibility. In addition to his responsibilities at TRSM, Dr. Walsh contributes to the Yeates School of Graduate Studies Environmental Applied Science and Management graduate program.