Corporate Social Responsibility in Finland Origins, Characteristics, and Trends Laura Olkkonen Anne Quarshie Corporate Social Responsibility in Finland “In the face of increasingly urgent sustainability challenges, the Nordics provide inspiration Olkkonen and Quarshie deliver a thorough and timely exploration of the Finnish approach to business responsibility and stakeholder thinking that will serve as a foundational building block for the growing global attention to sustainability in the Nordics This is a must read for everyone with an interest in the Sustainable Vikings!” —Robert Strand, Executive Director and Lecturer, University of California- Berkeley, USA, and Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark “From the early days of industrialization of the country to the future challenges faced by Finnish business, Olkkonen and Quarshie nail it Creatively mixing analysis, interviews and cases, they provide an authoritative, contextualized, complex and compelling assessment of the state of corporate social responsibility in Finland.” —Arno Kourula, Associate Professor of Strategy, University of Amsterdam Business School, The Netherlands Laura Olkkonen • Anne Quarshie Corporate Social Responsibility in Finland Origins, Characteristics, and Trends Laura Olkkonen LUT School of Business and Management LUT University Lappeenranta, Finland Anne Quarshie LUT School of Business and Management LUT University Lappeenranta, Finland ISBN 978-3-030-17434-7 ISBN 978-3-030-17435-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17435-4 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Cover illustration: Pattern © John Rawsterne/patternhead.com This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Acknowledgments We would like to thank all our interviewees who each provided valuable insights on Finnish and Nordic CSR. Our special thank you goes to FIBS network for their cooperation in this project We further warmly thank our editors, Madeleine Holder and Gabriel Everington, for all their practical help and support Two research assistants, Elina Silvola and Jaan-Pauli Kimpimäki, deserve our thanks for prompt assistance when the process was most intense Furthermore, we appreciate the friendly assistance we got from the UPM Archives Our thanks also go out to our reviewers, colleagues, and family members, whose positive feedback has encouraged us on with this project Finally, Anne Quarshie gratefully acknowledges research funding from Liikesivistysrahasto (Foundation for Economic Education) v Contents 1 Introduction 1 References 4 Part I Origins of Finnish CSR 7 2 Finnish Paternalism at the Start of the Industrial Revolution 9 References 15 3 The Nordic Welfare State as a Backdrop for CSR 17 References 22 4 The Dawn of Stakeholder Thinking in Nordic Countries 25 References 31 Part II Characteristics of Finnish CSR Context 35 5 The Public Sector: Hard and Soft Regulation 37 References 42 vii viii Contents 6 The Private Sector: An Ongoing Transformation 45 References 49 7 The Nonprofit Sector and Civil Society: Conflict and Collaboration 53 References 60 8 Media and Communication Environment 63 References 71 Part III Trends in Finnish CSR 75 9 Positioning the CSR Performance of Finnish Companies 77 References 83 10 Diffusion of Global CSR Trends in Finland 85 References 93 11 CSR Profession in Finland 95 References 100 12 Ongoing Challenges103 References 109 13 Conclusion113 References 115 Index117 List of Figures Fig 2.1 The town of Valkeakoski was largely built for the purposes of the factory community In the picture are workers’ houses in the 1950s (UPM Central Archive) 12 Fig 4.1 Re-illustration of Eric Rhenman’s conceptualization of the stakeholders (originally “intressent”) from 1964 in Swedish and 1968 in English (adapted from Rhenman 1964, 1968; Strand and Freeman 2015) 27 Fig 4.2 Re-illustration of Juha Näsi’s conceptualization of stakeholders as members of internal and external coalitions (adapted from Näsi 1979, 1995b) 28 Fig 4.3 Re-illustration of the organization chart of Yhtyneet Paperitehtaat head offices in the 1960s (adapted from Raiskio 2012)29 Fig 5.1 Finland’s position in innovation and competitiveness rankings 39 Fig 10.1 Finnish companies’ estimations of the importance and resources of CSR (FIBS 2018) 87 Fig 10.2 Established CSR practices in Finland (FIBS 2018) 87 Fig 11.1 CSR management practices in Finnish companies (FIBS 2018) 97 Fig 11.2 Position of CSR expertise and CSR professionals in Finnish companies (FIBS 2018) 98 Fig 11.3 The job title of the person in charge of CSR in the management team (FIBS 2018) 99 Fig 11.4 Department or unit of Finnish CSR managers or directors (FIBS 2018) 99 ix List of Tables Table 6.1 Table 7.1 Industrial structure in Finland 46 Professional associations advancing CSR and sustainability in Finland59 Table 9.1 Ranking of the Nordic countries in sustainability-related indices78 Table 9.2 Top five companies on the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World Index 2018 and all Nordic companies’ rankings 80 Table 9.3 Top five companies on the most socially reputable companies and all Nordic companies’ rankings 81 xi CHAPTER Introduction Abstract This chapter provides background information on Finland as a country and discusses the Nordic traditions, such as the welfare state system, as shapers of the institutional and cultural context for CSR in Finland The three central elements of the book, origins, characteristics, and trends of CSR in Finland are introduced Furthermore, the meaning of CSR in the Finnish context and in the Finnish language is shortly reviewed Keywords Finland • Corporate social responsibility • Nordic countries This is a combination that few, if any, other countries can match (Witoszek and Midttun 2018, p. 3) The above quotation is a conclusion of how the Nordic countries rank in global comparisons of economic and social prosperity Nordic countries— Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden—are small and remotely located European countries (Fellman et al 2008), yet they rank disproportionally high in terms of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in global comparison (Midttun 2018; Strand and Freeman 2015; Strand et al 2015) Furthermore, the Nordic countries routinely land top positions when measuring competitiveness (World Economic Forum 2018a), trust (Eurobarometer 2017), transparency (Transparency International 2018)—and happiness (Helliwell et al 2018) The Nordics © The Author(s) 2019 L Olkkonen, A Quarshie, Corporate Social Responsibility in Finland, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17435-4_1 11 CSR PROFESSION IN FINLAND 101 Jiang, B (2009) Implementing supplier codes of conduct in global supply chains: Process explanations from theoretic and empirical perspectives Journal of Business Ethics, 85(1), 77–92 KPMG (2017, October) The road ahead: The KPMG Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2017 KPMG International Laari, S., Töyli, J., & Ojala, L (2017) Supply chain perspective on competitive strategies and green supply chain management strategies Journal of Cleaner Production, 141, 1303–1315 Lahtinen, S., Kuusela, H., & Yrjölä, M (2018) The company in society: When corporate responsibility transforms strategy Journal of Business Strategy, 39(4), 11–18 Pollach, I., Johansen, T. S., Ellerup Nielsen, A., & Thomsen, C (2012) The integration of CSR into corporate communication in large European companies Journal of Communication Management, 16(2), 204–216 Preuss, L (2010) Codes of conduct in organisational context: From cascade to lattice-work of codes Journal of Business Ethics, 94(4), 471–487 PricewaterhouseCoopers Finland (2018) Yritysvastuubarometri 2018 Helsinki: PricewaterhouseCoopers Procom, Viesti & JAT (2017) Viestinnän ammattilaiset 2017 Helsinki: Procom ry, Viesti ry & Julkisen alan tiedottajat ry (JAT) Quarshie, A. M., Salmi, A., & Leuschner, R (2016) Sustainability and corporate social responsibility in supply chains: The state of research in supply chain management and business ethics journals Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 22(2), 82–97 Riikkinen, R., Kauppi, K., & Salmi, A (2017) Learning sustainability? Absorptive capacities as drivers of sustainability in MNCs’ purchasing International Business Review, 26(6), 1075–1087 Risi, D., & Wickert, C (2017) Reconsidering the ‘symmetry’ between institutionalization and professionalization: The case of corporate social responsibility managers Journal of Management Studies, 54(5), 613–646 Statistics Finland (2018) Educational structure of population Helsinki: Statistics Finland Retrieved November 27, 2018, from http://www.stat.fi/til/vkour/ index_en.html Strand, R (2014) Strategic leadership of corporate sustainability Journal of Business Ethics, 123(4), 687–706 Tams, S., & Marshall, J. (2011) Responsible careers: Systemic reflexivity in shifting landscapes Human Relations, 64(1), 109–131 United Nations (2018) Principles for responsible management education Retrieved from http://www.unprme.org/index.php Zerfass, A., Tench, R., Verhoeven, P., Verčič, D., & Moreno, A (2018) European Communication Monitor 2018 Strategic communication and the challenges of fake news, trust, leadership, work stress and job satisfaction Results of a survey in 48 countries Brussels: EACD/EUPRERA, Quadriga Media Berlin CHAPTER 12 Ongoing Challenges Abstract This chapter provides a critical examination of the progress made to date in the corporate responsibility and sustainability field in Finland It examines companies’ activities in light of environmental problems, discussing where the efforts appear to fall short and where more ambitious business participation is necessary Furthermore, it discusses the need for Finnish firms to continue to address social and economic challenges, such as human rights issues, especially in their global supply chains The chapter also gives voice to a civil society organization expert who sees great variation in the ambition-level of Finnish firms’ CSR activities Finally, emerging challenges, such as those related to digitalization, which are beginning to occupy a significant share of CSR professionals’ time, are examined Keywords Sustainability issues • Human rights • Sustainable supply chains • Digitalization As discussed previously in this book, the practice of CSR in Finland has become increasingly professional, and the rankings of Finnish firms on global responsibility and sustainability ranking lists have increased steadily Especially in large firms, responsibility and sustainability are increasingly viewed as strategic priorities, and 41% of large firms already take the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into consideration in © The Author(s) 2019 L Olkkonen, A Quarshie, Corporate Social Responsibility in Finland, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17435-4_12 103 104 L OLKKONEN AND A QUARSHIE their business operations (FIBS 2018) At the same time, managers of large Finnish firms perceive that integrating sustainability into the core business and measuring the benefits of CSR pose the most considerable challenges for their firms (FIBS 2018) Despite the evident progress in CSR practice, when measured against actual sustainability and CSR issues and impacts, we see a need for more ambitious action in several areas in the future (see e.g., Lyytimäki 2017) For example, the environmental footprint of Finnish consumers continues to grow despite the sustainability efforts of Finnish firms In fact, in 2018, Finns consumed their share of the planet’s renewable natural resources by mid-April (Ministry of the Environment and WWF 2018) This implies that if all people on the planet lived like Finns, we would need 3.6 planets to satisfy their resource needs The most significant drivers of the resource consumption include energy production, traffic, and food production (WWF Finland 2018) By increasingly favoring renewable energy, improving energy efficiency, reducing travel, promoting public transportation, decreasing food waste in value chains, and promoting plant-based diets, Finnish companies could in the future join forces with consumers to address the problem The current overconsumption of natural resources is also reflected in the state of the natural environment, which—while showing some improvements—continues to decline or shows little improvement in several indicator areas globally and in Finland (e.g., Whiteman et al 2013; Steffen et al 2015; WWF International 2016; Lyytimäki 2017) From a global perspective, the “safe levels” of planetary boundaries have now been crossed for four environmental concerns: biodiversity loss (or biosphere integrity), biogeochemical flows (e.g., of nitrogen and phosphorus), land-system change, and climate change (Stockholm Resilience Centre 2018; Steffen et al 2015) Biodiversity loss, climate change, and the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea are currently areas of particular concern in Finland (Hyvärinen et al 2019; Lyytimäki 2017; Ministry of the Environment 2014; Ritvala and Salmi 2011) For example, in the area of biological diversity, forest and farmland species and ecosystems continue to face pressures in Finland (Ministry of the Environment 2014; Lyytimäki 2017) While Finland tops the list of European countries with the largest forest covers of all land area (at 73%) (Yle 2018a, November 19), biological diversity within forests faces intense pressures due to commercial forestry (Hanski 2016) Although forest biodiversity in Finland has benefited from the development of sustainable forestry practices, the downward trend in forest biodiversity has not yet been stopped 12 ONGOING CHALLENGES 105 (Ministry of the Environment 2014; Quarshie et al 2018) Indeed, in the most recent national biodiversity assessments, changes in the forest environment and the overgrowing of open habitats are concluded to be the most significant causes of threats to species (Hyvärinen et al 2019; Ministry of the Environment 2014) Overall, it has become evident that although radical progress and improvements are sought in many sectors (Quarshie et al 2019), Finland will not be able to reach its 2020 target and commitment to the Convention on Biological Diversity to stop biodiversity loss taking place within the country To reach this target in the future, significant further changes would be needed not only in nature protection and general awareness raising measures and resourcing, but also in production practices and consumption patterns in natural resources-based industries, including forestry and agriculture (Ministry of the Environment 2014) Climate change is another global concern that disproportionately affects the areas around the North and South poles In Finland, the average temperature rise so far in Finland has been over 2 °C, compared to a global rise of “only” 1 °C (Finnish Meteorological Institute 2014; IPCC 2018) In the future, unless international and Finnish efforts lead to considerable reductions in emissions, the temperature is expected to rise in Finland and the Arctic area by as much as 4 °C, causing severe further problems for biodiversity as well (Ministry of the Environment 2014; CAFF 2015) To prevent such a scenario from happening, governmental, organizational, and individual actors would together need to cut current carbon dioxide emissions by 45% from 2010 level by 2030 and achieve a net zero level by 2050 (IPCC 2018) So far, Finnish efforts to fight against climate change have been average among European countries, according to Climate Action Network (Yle 2018b, November) In its index considering EU countries’ emission cuts to date, future targets, and overall policy visions concerning emissions, Finland is placed ninth out of 28 countries (while Sweden ranks first and Denmark sixth) This suggests that in the future, the Finnish government, firms, and other actors should continue to considerably raise the bar for their sustainability activities Fortunately, it appears that the IPCC (2018) report has woken up most of the major political parties to this need, and the Finnish government is planning to push for more aggressive emissions cuts—up to 55% by 2030—at the EU level when its EU Presidency begins in July 2019 (Orjala and Koistinen 2018) In the area of social and economic responsibility, the strict national regulations and strong trade unions help to guarantee the meeting of basic responsibilities in companies domestically However, there is further room 106 L OLKKONEN AND A QUARSHIE for improvement in how issues relating to gender and racial equality (or discrimination) as well as work-place harassment are handled For example, immigrant men and women face multiple types of discrimination (e.g., in recruitment and pay) in the Finnish job market (THL 2018), despite the country’s estimated future need for working-age migrants Moreover, while 57.4% of university, college, and trade school degree holders in Finland are already women, there is a persistent pay gap, with women only earning 84%, on average, of every euro earned by men (Statistics Finland 2018) Finally, the #MeToo campaign helped to surface issues related to sexual harassment and abuse especially in the film and sports industries in Finland While it is too early to say what the longer- term impacts of the campaign will be, many companies and other organizations have actively started to develop better ways to deal with work-place harassment-related issues (also see FIBS and Ekvalita 2018) Globally, Finnish companies continue to face considerable challenges especially related to managing responsibility and sustainability in supply chains and networks (FIBS 2016; also see Quarshie et al 2016) Many labor and human rights issues that would domestically be covered by the stringent national legislation are largely the responsibility of international companies in developing and emerging countries Viewpoint 12.1, an interview with Sonja Vartiala, Executive Director of the civil society organization Finnwatch, highlights the variation in how Finnish companies are managing their CSR and the risks they face Viewpoint 12.1 Interview with Sonja Vartiala, Executive Director (Finnwatch) Q: What is Finnwatch and what does it do? A: Our purpose is to monitor the responsibility of firms operating in Finland, focusing especially on human and labor rights issues and tax responsibility We publish research and recommendations We participate in public debate, political decision-making and the regulation of business Our main strategic goal currently is to get mandatory human rights due diligence legislation adopted in Finland Q: What you think about the state of corporate responsibility in Finland right now? A: It varies from company to company Some companies have advanced significantly; there is greater awareness of, for example, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and they are 12 ONGOING CHALLENGES 107 working toward implementing them in practice Some companies not even understand that they should be doing something, and they not anything There are considerable differences also between industries In business-to-consumer markets, things have generally been taken care of better than on the business-to-business side How CSR is managed also varies from company to company Often it has taken a public outcry against a company, which has then had an impact on the investors’ or customers’ behavior, for the company to dedicate meaningful resources to CSR work or to involve top management in this work A good example of this is setting up a separate corporate responsibility team instead of incorporating these functions to the work of their communications department, which is how it used to be and still is in some cases Q: What types of challenges you see in the CSR field in Finland? A: All companies have different types of risks and therefore, they should map their most significant human rights impacts Most companies have human rights risks in their value chains, and those can be difficult to tackle There is also a connection between human rights and taxes—without sufficient tax funds, states cannot provide basic services such as health care and education to people Until just a few years ago, top management teams were not involved in issues related to aggressive tax planning Today, tax strategies are brought to the attention of top management because they involve reputation risks Q: How does Finnwatch seek to influence CSR in Finland? A: We push for national legislation on mandatory human rights due diligence The EU directive on non-financial reporting introduced a responsibility for large firms to report on their human rights risks and processes to manage them, but it did not make human rights due diligence itself mandatory for companies Then there is the core (research) work that we We not aim to scrutinize all companies; rather, we want to influence public discussion and regulation on business Pushing for regulation is long- term, strategic work for us, and all of our activities aim at that Q: What you hope to see in the field of CSR in the future? A: I hope that Finland could be a leader and forerunner in corporate responsibility The 2015–2019 government did not consider that a priority and CSR was not included in the government program We are also falling behind in CSR regulation 108 L OLKKONEN AND A QUARSHIE In addition, I hope that the role of NGOs would be better recognized in the CSR field During the past few years, public NGO funding was cut [by the previous government] Moreover, NGOs have been pushed to collaborate with companies, which also has negative aspects, such as NGOs becoming consultants instead of operating as independent voices for the civil society and bringing up societal problems Nonprofits and companies should collaborate when it makes strategic sense but collaboration just for collaborations sake—or in order to obtain funding—does not make sense It would also be important for firms to understand that a free civil society is valuable for companies It is in everyone’s best interests that markets work and human rights are not violated anywhere in the world As emerging issues, digitalization and the adoption of new technologies have not only created significant opportunities for firms, but have also brought new ethical and sustainability concerns to the surface that have begun to occupy a significant share of CSR, supply chain management, and other professionals’ time (e.g., Srai and Lorentz 2019) Indeed, while previously many company managers saw globalization as the main influence behind the ethical and responsibility problems that they needed to deal with at work, today digitalization has superseded it as the most significant root cause for those concerns (see FIBS 2017, November 2) In conclusion, these insights and additional perspectives provided in this book suggest that considerable progress has been made to date in Finnish CSR, but there is room for improvement in how companies tackle both existing and new CSR challenges that they meet Indeed, to truly be part of the solutions especially for grand challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss, Finnish companies would have to significantly increase the ambition-level of their sustainability initiatives Further, to address consumers’ growing ecological footprints, they could look for ways to better engage their customers and stakeholders in the work for sustainability (Strömberg 2017) Even if decisive and robust organizational action is difficult and its outcomes uncertain (Ferraro et al 2015), the challenges we face today demand such action at individual, organizational, and societal levels alike (Steffen et al 2015; United Nations 2015; Ripple et al 2017) 12 ONGOING CHALLENGES 109 References CAFF (2015) Actions for Arctic biodiversity, 2013–2021: Implementing the recommendations of the Arctic biodiversity assessment Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna, Akureyri, Iceland ISBN: 978-9935-431-41-7 Ferraro, F., Etzion, D., & Gehman, J. (2015) Tackling grand challenges pragmatically: Robust action revisited Organization Studies, 36(3), 363–390 FIBS (2016, March 16) Asiakkaat ja sijoittajat vaikuttavat entistä enemmän yritysten vastuullisuuteen (Press release) Retrieved from http://www.fibsry.fi/fi/ uutishuone#/pressreleases/asiakkaat-ja-sijoittajat-vaikuttavat-entistae-enemmaen-yritysten-vastuullisuuteen-1344674 FIBS (2017, November 2) Digitalization boosting better business (Event video) Retrieved December 14, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=1wqKYmbIYic FIBS (2018) Sustainability in Finland 2018: Summary Helsinki, Finland: Finnish Business and Society FIBS and Ekvalita (2018) Nollatoleranssi seksuaaliselle häirinnälle: Tietopaketti rekrytoinnista, johtamisesta ja yritysvastuusta vastaavien käyttöön Retrieved from http://www.fibsry.fi/images/FIBS_Ekvalita_Tietopaketti_2018v2.pdf Finnish Meteorological Institute (2014, December, 22) Suomen keskilämpötila noussut jo yli kaksi astetta (Press release) Retrieved October 25, 2018, from https://ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/tiedote/40085895 Hanski, I (2016) Tutkimusmatkoja saarille Luonnon monimuotoisuutta kartoittamassa Tallinn: Gaudeamus Hyvärinen, E., Juslén, A., Kemppainen, E., Uddström, A., & Liukko, U.-M (Eds.) (2019) The 2019 Red List of Finnish species Ympäristöministeriö & Suomen ympäristökeskus Helsinki 704 p IPCC (2018) Global warming of 1.5°C, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty IPCC Retrieved October 16, 2018, from http://www ipcc.ch/report/sr15/ Lyytimäki, J. (2017) Luonnon ja ympäristön tila: ympäristönsuojelun painopiste on siirtymässä päästöjen vähentämisestä niiden ehkäisyyn Retrieved from https://kestavakehitys.fi/seuranta/tulkinnat/-/blogs/ymparistonsuojelunpainopiste-on-siirtymassa-paastojen-vahentamisesta-niiden-ehkaisyyn Ministry of the Environment (2014) Fifth national report to the convention on biological diversity – Finland Helsinki: Ministry of the Environment Ministry of the Environment & WWF (2018, August 1) Maailman ylikulutuspäivä on tänään (Press release) Retrieved October 25, 2018, from http:// 110 L OLKKONEN AND A QUARSHIE www.ym.fi/fi-FI/Ajankohtaista/Tiedotteet/Maailman_ylikulutuspaiva_on_ tanaan(47411) Orjala, A., & Koistinen, A (2018, December 20) Puolueet linjasivat: EU:n ja Suomen kiristettävä selvästi ilmastotavoitteita – päästöjä leikattava 55 prosenttia jo 2030 mennessä Yle Retrieved from https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10564842 Quarshie, A. M., Salmi, A., & Leuschner, R (2016) Sustainability and corporate social responsibility in supply chains: The state of research in supply chain management and business ethics journals Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 22(2), 82–97 Quarshie, A., Salmi, A., Scott-Kennel, J., & Kähkönen, A. K (2018) Biodiversity as integral to strongly sustainable supply chains: Review and exemplars in the natural resources sector In Strongly sustainable societies (pp. 192–208) Routledge Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/p/book/9780815387220 Quarshie, A., Salmi, A., & Wu, Z (2019) From equivocality to reflexivity in biodiversity protection Organization & Environment, 32, 1–30 https://doi org/10.1177/1086026619837122 Ripple, W. J., Wolf, C., Newsome, T. M., Galetti, M., Alamgir, M., Crist, E., et al (2017) World scientists’ warning to humanity: A second notice BioScience, 67(12), 1026–1028 Ritvala, T., & Salmi, A (2011) Network mobilizers and target firms: The case of saving the Baltic Sea Industrial Marketing Management, 40(6), 887–898 Srai, J. S., & Lorentz, H (2019) Developing design principles for the digitalisation of purchasing and supply management Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 25(1), 78–98 Statistics Finland (2018) Gender equality in Finland Helsinki: Grano Oy Retrieved from http://www.stat.fi/tup/julkaisut/tiedostot/julkaisuluettelo/ yyti_gef_201800_2018_19723_net.pdf Steffen, W., Richardson, K., Rockström, J., Cornell, S. E., Fetzer, I., Bennet, E. M., et al (2015) Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet Science, 347(6223), 1259855-1–1259855-10 https://doi org/10.1126/science.1259855 Stockholm Resilience Centre (2018) The nine planetary boundaries Retrieved from https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries/ planetar y-boundaries/about-the-research/the-nine-planetar y-boundaries.html Strömberg, J. (2017, April 20) Analyysi: Kestääkö maailma enää meitä suomalaisia? Yle Retrieved Octobber 25, 2018, from https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9564223 THL (2018) Maahanmuuttajat ja monikulttuurisuus: Tutkimustuloksia elämän eri osa-alueilta sukupuolittain Retrieved from https://thl.fi/fi/web/maahanmuuttajat-ja-monikulttuurisuus/maahanmuuttajien-osallisuus-ja-kotoutuminen/sukupuolten-tasa-arvo/tutkimustuloksia-elaman-eri-osa-alueilta-sukupuolittain 12 ONGOING CHALLENGES 111 United Nations (2015) Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development New York: United Nations Whiteman, G., Walker, B., & Perego, P (2013) Planetary boundaries: Ecological foundations for corporate sustainability Journal of Management Studies, 50(2), 307–336 WWF Finland (2018, April 11) Suomalaisten ylikulutuspäivä on tänään – jos kaikki eläisivät kuin suomalaiset, tarvitsisimme 3,6 maapalloa (Press release) Retrieved from https://wwf.fi/wwf-suomi/viestinta/uutiset-ja-tiedotteet/ Suomalaisten-ylikulutuspaiva-on-tanaan%2D%2D-jos-kaikki-elaisivat-kuinsuomalaiset%2D%2Dtarvitsisimme-3-6-maapalloa-3439.a WWF International (2016) Living Planet Report 2016: Risk and resilience in a new era Gland, Switzerland: World Wide Fund for Nature Yle (2018a, November 19) Suomi on Euroopan metsäisin maa! Tutki miltä hiilinielumme näyttää numeroina Retrieved from https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/ 2018/11/19/suomi-on-euroopan-metsaisin-maa-tutki-milta-hiilinielummenayttaa-numeroina Yle (2018b, November 28) EU pohtii kovempia ilmastotavoitteita, vaikka nykyisissäkin on vielä tekemistä: vertailussa ilmastopolitiikan hyvät, pahat ja rumat Retrieved from https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10528677 CHAPTER 13 Conclusion Abstract This chapter summarizes the learnings from the previous chapters As Finnish CSR is rooted in Nordic traditions, it is not a transferrable formula; yet it is possible to identify aspects that can serve as inspiration for others The future of Finnish CSR is reflected on by pinpointing the most influential recent developments, along with a discussion on the key takeaways Keywords Global challenges • Cultural aspects • Trends • Nordic CSR The Nordic countries are top-performers in CSR, and Finland does especially well in terms of offering a socially stable environment for people to live in and for companies to business Furthermore, transparency and trust are high in Finland, along with the level of education and equality Despite the small size of the country and the economy, Finnish companies are listed among the most sustainable, especially when measured in terms of transparent reporting and management (e.g., Corporate Knights 2018) What explains this success and what could others learn from it? What does the future hold for Finnish companies and their CSR? We end the book by reflecting on these questions While CSR is influenced by local cultures and contexts, and interpreted by companies and other organizations, actions that work in some settings © The Author(s) 2019 L Olkkonen, A Quarshie, Corporate Social Responsibility in Finland, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17435-4_13 113 114 L OLKKONEN AND A QUARSHIE might not work in others As we have discussed, CSR in Finland is based on historical developments and Nordic roots have shaped the overall context for practicing CSR, including institutional settings and styles of interacting Hence, it is not a formula that can be easily transferred to another context However, Finnish—and more broadly Nordic—CSR can offer valuable insights and lessons for others For example, Finland and Finnish companies have shown how small players can be influential, when they build on their strengths, integrate CSR deeply in their organizations, establish strong management systems for their CSR activities and reporting, and work with others to advance shared societal goals The success of Finnish CSR seems to be a combination of diligence and hard work over the course of an extended period of time, rather than a quest for quick wins and media attention Moreover, it is clearly influenced by other actors within the Finnish society, such as NGOs, CSR networks, and the government, which in many areas push for change and collaborate with companies to advance the common good Yet, there are several trends currently affecting Finnish CSR, transforming it from implicit to explicit and expanding companies’ responsibilities constantly to new areas While some practices are already widely adopted by Finnish companies, such as reporting and adoption of international guidelines, some global challenges need to be treated with renewed and even greater urgency in the future This is true, for example, for human rights, climate change, and biodiversity loss (e.g., FIBS 2018; PricewaterhouseCoopers Finland 2018) In addition, Finnish companies have actively started the work to integrate the United Nations’ SDGs to their daily CSR activities and business operations At the same time, the CSR profession is developing in Finland: the number of CSR managers and directors is growing, and several tailored degree programs train students to be experts of CSR and sustainability, and cover even more specific topics such as ethical investing (e.g., Finsif 2017) However, CSR professionals today face an ever expanding scope of responsibilities and issues they need to work on, not only in terms of the evolving hard and soft law, but also due to new public expectations such as more vigorous and vocal actions—even activism—and presence in new channels (FIBS 2018; Miltton 2017) Especially large Finnish companies, which have routinely addressed CSR and further developed their actions, can offer examples and inspiration on how to integrate and manage CSR in complex, often international organizations, and how to advance important societal and environmental issues The emerging startups illustrate how to tackle emerging and 13 CONCLUSION 115 pressing challenges, especially in the form of advanced technical solutions As startups, in particular, can genuinely build their success on sustainability from the start (Mikkilä et al 2015; see also Bocken et al 2014), it will be interesting to see how influential Finnish startups’ role can become in the future Historically speaking, Finland has gone through many phases, including periods of time under the Swedish and the Russian rule, the long industrialization phase that collided with the independence project, wartime, and economic recessions Yet, the idea of shared social responsibility has persisted Initially, social responsibility meant the voluntary actions of owner-managers, especially heads of factory-communities; later, the state had a strong orchestrating role, and then, especially in recent decades, social responsibilities started to deal not only with national wellbeing but also with complex and elusive international challenges As Finnish CSR continues to evolve, Finnish companies carry on guided by the deep- rooted ability to act as responsible members of their communities, the society, and the globe References Bocken, N. M., Short, S. W., Rana, P., & Evans, S (2014) A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes Journal of Cleaner Production, 65, 42–56 Corporate Knights (2018) 2018 global results Retrieved from http://www corporateknights.com/reports/2018-global-100/2018-global-100-results15166618/ FIBS (2018) Sustainability in Finland 2018 Helsinki: Finnish Business & Society Finsif (2017) Vastuullisen sijoittamisen korkeakouluopinnot: Missä mennään 2017? Finsif Retrieved from https://www.finsif.fi/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ Finsif_Koulutusselvitys_taitto_FINAL.pdf Mikkilä, M., Panapanaan, V., & Linnanen, L (2015) Corporate social responsibility in Finland: From local movements to global responsibility In S. O Idowu et al (Eds.), Corporate social responsibility in Europe: CSR, sustainability, ethics & governance (pp. 209–228) Cham: Springer Miltton (2017) Miltton Insights VII: Corporate advocacy: What Finns, Swedes and Estonians think about companies taking a stance Helsinki: Miltton Retrieved from http://www.miltton.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/ Miltton_Corporate-Advo-cacy_Report.pdf PricewaterhouseCoopers Finland (2018) Yritysvastuubarometri 2018 Helsinki: PricewaterhouseCoopers Index B Biodiversity, 41, 58, 79, 104, 105, 108, 114 H Human rights, 38, 41, 42, 47, 58, 65, 66, 78, 86, 88–90, 106–108, 114 C Civil society, 2–4, 21, 26, 30, 41, 53–58, 106, 108 Climate change, 41, 42, 58, 66, 79, 90, 104, 105, 108, 114 Corporate activism, 91, 93 CSR communication, 66, 67, 70–71, 89, 100 CSR management, 96, 97 CSR performance, 1, 3, 20, 30, 31, 77–82 CSR practices, 87, 91, 95, 100, 104 CSR professionals, 95, 97–100, 114 I Industrialization, i, 9–11, 14, 45, 115 Initiatives, 3, 19, 22, 31, 37, 38, 41, 42, 55, 85, 86, 96, 108 Innovation, 2, 20, 38–40, 82 D Digitalization, 3, 58, 89, 96, 108 M Media, 3, 54, 57, 59, 63–71, 91–93, 114 N Nongovernmental organizations(NGOs), 53, 55, 57, 71, 108 Nonprofit organizations, 4, 21, 54, 55, 57, 86 © The Author(s) 2019 L Olkkonen, A Quarshie, Corporate Social Responsibility in Finland, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17435-4 117 118 INDEX Nordic countries, 1, 2, 17, 18, 20–22, 25–31, 38, 54, 77–79, 81, 82, 90, 96, 113 Nordic welfare state, 3, 15, 17 P Partnerships, 17, 31, 56, 57 Paternalism, 9–15 Private sector, 3, 21, 42 Professional associations, 58, 59, 65, 100 Public sector, 3, 4, 18, 37–42, 54, 86 R Rankings, 39, 49, 77, 78, 80, 103 Regulation, 3, 13, 15, 20, 22, 37–42, 47, 105–107 S Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), 40, 46–49, 86 Stakeholder thinking, 3, 25–31 Sustainable development goals (SDGs), 41, 66, 79, 86, 88–90, 103 T Tax responsibility, 106 Trade unions, 18, 21, 30, 38, 41, 53, 58, 105 Trends, 3, 4, 18, 22, 55, 58, 70, 85–93, 100, 104, 114 ... and cultural context for CSR in Finland The three central elements of the book, origins, characteristics, and trends of CSR in Finland are introduced Furthermore, the meaning of CSR in the Finnish... that shape and define CSR in Finland The following chapters, and the cases and expert interviews included in them, provide insights and takeaways on the origins, characteristics, trends, as well... established in the early 1870s, during the golden and heavily expanding era of industrialization in Finland (UPM 2015) In various locations in rural Finland, UPM’s companies were involved in forming