Corporate Diplomacy as Strategy for Facing Corporate Social Responsibility Polemic by Palm Oil Corporates in Indonesia
Abstract
Recently, Indonesia has experienced a rapid expansion in oil palm plantations. About 4,783 villages depend on the palm oil industry for their daily living. This study determines the various polemics in the implementation of CSR by palm oil companies in Indonesia. The authors have used a descriptive qualitative approach and collected data through a literature study. They analyzed two palm oil companies that claimed to implement CSR programs and tested them against the three basic CSR principles – sustainability, transparency, and accountability. The collected data were analyzed based on the literature studies. The results indicated that none of the companies met the basic principles of CSR. Therefore, this study offers the implementation of corporate diplomacy as an alternative strategy for palm oil companies in realizing a more targeted CSR program. This type of diplomacy will focus heavily on the company’s role in communicating with community groups or farmers around the company, so the approach applied is bottom-up. The study shows that corporate diplomacy can be a new alternative for companies to implement CSR programs based on the basic principles of CSR and are more effective and on target.
Keywords: corporate diplomacy, polemic, corporate social responsibility, palm oil corporates
References
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