Corporate responsibility for individual, cultural, and biodiversity

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show how corporate responsibility (CR) could be utilized to manage and develop individual, cultural, and biodiversity and turn them into business strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

Case studies of two multinational forest companies are used to demonstrate present and possible corporate values, words, and actions of diversity.

Findings

Forest companies tend to react on external pressure in diversity issues. They often take a confrontational or minimum legal compliance approach. Biodiversity, cultural diversity, and individual diversity form an intertwined hot topic all over the world.

Practical implications

For future prospects, forest companies should take initiative in diversity enhancement and become entrepreneurial, particularly as pulp and paper production is a declining industry and new business visions are needed. In cooperation with indigenous peoples, environmental organizations, governments, and other stakeholders forest companies could replace monocultural tree plantations with multicultural forest gardens, which provide many ecosystem services, natural products, and employment, and participate in large‐scale forest leasing for conservation. Multinational forest companies could also make better use of their diverse individual and cultural resources.

Originality/value

This is the first attempt to build a CR/diversity framework by studying different kinds of diversity issues through CR and by analyzing corporate values, words, and actions. Integrating diversity into CR helps companies to turn it into a business strategy.

Citation

Ketola, T. (2009), "Corporate responsibility for individual, cultural, and biodiversity", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 239-254. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777830910950649