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1 – 3 of 3Nooch Kuasirikun and Philip Constable
This paper explores corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Thailand and analyses how CSR practice is informed by local values rather than merely driven by CSR practices designed…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Thailand and analyses how CSR practice is informed by local values rather than merely driven by CSR practices designed in developed countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is based on a comparative series of interviews of Thai business leaders in 2009–10 and 2019–20 within the conceptual context of Thai CSR discourse/practice, especially Buddhist Economics.
Findings
This paper argues that CSR practice in Thailand is substantially informed by local socio-economic context, particularly Buddhist Economics, including the concepts of suffering (dukkha), the Eightfold Path of the Middle Way, and gifting and reciprocal exchange.
Research limitations/implications
Local contexts are crucial not only for understanding local models of CSR but also for challenging what has been perceived as an imperialistic neo-liberal agenda in western-originating CSR.
Practical implications
The wider practical implications of this paper are that, like Thailand, CSR practices in other developing economies and emerging markets (DEEMs) may also have their own distinctive ‘local’ origins, contexts and developments which need to be considered.
Social implications
The social implications of this paper are that local context is determinant in the development of CSR practice, especially in DEEMs.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the CSR literature by highlighting the often-marginalised existence of local CSR context and practice in DEEMs and questions CSR based solely on western theorisations.
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Philip Constable and Nooch Kuasirikun
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between accounting and the early roots of the nation‐state in mid nineteenth‐century Siam/Thailand.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between accounting and the early roots of the nation‐state in mid nineteenth‐century Siam/Thailand.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the paper examines the theoretical inter‐relationship between accounting and nationalism. Second, it relates this theoretical understanding to a study of the changing concepts, methods and structures of indigenous Siamese accounting at a time of transition when foreign mercantile influence was beginning to have an impact on the mid nineteenth‐century Siamese economy. Third, the paper analyses how these accounting structures and practices came to constitute a socio‐political instrument, which contributed to the administrative development of a Siamese dynastic state by the mid nineteenth‐century. Finally, the paper studies the ways in which this dynastic state began to promote national characteristics through the use of its accounts to create a sense of Siamese cultural identity.
Findings
The findings emphasise the important role of accounting in the construction of political and national identity.
Originality/value
This inter‐disciplinary paper highlights a general neglect in the accounting literature of the instrumental role of accounting in nation‐state formation as well as offering a re‐interpretation of Thai historiography from an accounting viewpoint. Moreover as an example of alternative accounting practice, this paper provides an analysis of indigenous accounting methods and structures in mid nineteenth‐century Siam/Thailand at the point when they were becoming increasingly influenced by foreign mercantilism.
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Lana Sabelfeld, John Dumay and Barbara Czarniawska
This study explores the integration of corporate reporting by Mitsubishi, a large Japanese company, using a culturally sensitive narrative that combines and reconciles Japanese…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the integration of corporate reporting by Mitsubishi, a large Japanese company, using a culturally sensitive narrative that combines and reconciles Japanese and Western corporate values in one story.
Design/methodology/approach
We use an analytical framework drawing on insights borrowed from narratology and the notion of wrapping – the traditional art of packaging as communication.
Findings
We find that Mitsubishi is a survivor company that uses different corporate reporting frameworks during its reporting journey to construct a bespoke narrative of its value creation and cultural values. It emplots narratives to convey a story presenting the impression that Mitsubishi is a Japanese corporation but is compatible with Western neo-liberal ideology, making bad news palatable to its stakeholders and instilling confidence in the future.
Research limitations/implications
Wrapping is a culturally sensitive form of impression management used in the integration of corporate reporting. Therefore, rather than assuming that companies blatantly manipulate their image in corporate reports, we suggest that future research should focus on how narratives are constructed and made sense of, situating them in the context of local culture and traditions.
Practical implications
The findings should interest scholars, report preparers, policymakers, and the IFRS, considering the recent release of the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards designed to reduce the so-called alphabet soup of corporate reporting. By following Mitsubishi’s journey, we learn how and why the notion of integrated reporting was adopted and integrated with other reporting frameworks to create narratives that together convey a story of a global corporation compliant with Western neoliberal ideology. It highlights how Mitsubishi used integrated reporting to tell its story rather than as a rigid reporting framework, and the same fate may apply to the new IFRS Sustainability Reporting Standards that now include integrated reporting.
Originality/value
The study offers a new perspective on corporate reporting, showing how the local societal discourses of cultural heritage and modernity can shape the journey of the integration of corporate reporting over time.
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