Corporate Social Responsibility and Peacebuilding: Analysis of a multinational company from Colombia

Abstract

The present research seeks to comprehend in what manner a Colombian multinational1 contributes to peacebuilding through Corporate Social Responsibility-CSR- practices development, and to know what challenges it faces in order for this exercise to adopt a peacebuilding emphasis. To that end, this study reviews sustainability reports corresponding to the 2010-2015 period published by a multinational operating in Colombia and analyses them by means of grounded theory design. The results obtained show that the multinational has contributed to our country’s peacebuilding through the exercise of its CSR by means of: orientation towards its stakeholders’ development, implementing strategic alliances, human right focus on the relationships established with its groups of interest, supporting entrepreneurship, boosting local development and the impact on our country’s economic and social development. With regards to the challenges faced by the analyzed multinational in order to reach a CSR exercise with emphasis on peacebuilding, it was found that it needs to strengthen its participation in reconciliation acts, analysis of the context in which it operates, participation in peace negotiation processes, work incorporation of irregular ex-combatants, as well as to widen its managerial vision of diversity and transcend from a perspective of prevention to health promoting.