CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP AND US FDI Website Content link - https://julianswartz.com/f/corporate-citizenship-and-us-fdi #WhatIsCorporateCitizenship

1. Corporate Citizenship and US FDI
In 1988, there were 3.7 million Americans working for foreign
companies in the United States.
In 1991, that
fi
gure would climb to 4.6 million.
In 1989, foreign af
fi
liates produced more employment in the United
States than American-based and managed enterprises.
In 1977–1987, 36 foreign-owned corporations generated a total of
$329 billion in sales but paid just $5 billion in American taxes.
Since the 1970s, foreign direct investment in the United States
(FDIUS) has expanded rapidly.
According to a 1988 study, approximately 74% of those polled said
that FDIUS increased reliance on foreign sources.
Tax fraud, racial and gender discrimination, technology transfer,
unethical lobbying methods, and an inability to adapt to local
business standards are among the allegations levelled against
these international af
fi
liates.
Corporate social responsibility
As globalisation has progressed, business organisations' corporate
citizenship has attracted special attention.
MNCs are under growing pressure to demonstrate "good corporate
citizenship" in each of the nations or marketplaces in which they
operate.

2. Four components of corporate citizenship were explored in order to
capture the core of corporate citizenship — orientations,
stakeholders, problems, and decision-making autonomy.
Corporate citizenship perspectives
Carroll (1979) de
fi
nes CSR as having four components: economic,
legal, ethical, and discretionary (or philanthropic).
The economic component illustrates business's core social duty.
The legal component acknowledges the enterprise's need to follow
laws; however, the ethical duties have proven far more dif
fi
cult to
de
fi
ne and comprehend.
As de
fi
ned in this study, the fourth type of obligation is discretionary,
voluntary, or charitable.
The relative relevance of the four components that de
fi
ne corporate
citizenship—economic, legal, ethical, and charitable—will vary by
business and country of origin.
Diverse nations, for example, might demonstrate different sets of
cultural values, frequently speci
fi
c to that country.
The socio-cultural milieu in which enterprises operate would be the
source of these cultural values.
In turn, the way a company interacts with its social environment is
re
fl
ected in its corporate citizenship.
Stakeholders in the organisation
The perceived signi
fi
cance of the businesses' stakeholder groups—
owners, customers, workers, communities, and government—varies
by country of origin.
It is also possible that enterprises in different nations may face
varying expectations and levels of participation from their varied
constituents.
England has been demonstrated to stress economic duties to
owners in its corporate community, whereas France has been
shown to promote
fi
rm employee interactions.
Concerns about corporate citizenship
The priorities of stakeholder groups vary by country of origin.
A meeting in 1990 focused on the social responsibilities of
multinational corporations.
Employees were at the heart of nearly half of the complaints.
Cooperation with host governments and environmental preservation
were other dif
fi
culties.

3. The necessity for transnational
fi
rms to take actual responsibility for
improving the circumstances of host communities
Both European and North American respondents emphasised the
importance of the political environment, whilst Asian respondents
emphasised the importance of the technical and social
surroundings.
However, no dif
fi
culties seemed to be shared by respondents of
different national backgrounds.
As a result, the author concluded that "Respondents saw the future
in terms of their own nations rather than an international
framework."
The importance of corporate citizenship concerns varies by
business and country of origin.
Decision-making autonomy in corporate citizenship
The level of autonomy granted to subsidiaries for corporate
citizenship decisionmaking varies by business and country of origin.
Blake (1980, 1981) discovered no discernible organisational pattern
in terms of the location of corporate governance decision-making.
According to Behrmann (1988), headquarters would take the lead
only provided policies made at headquarters did not interfere with
the competitiveness of the subsidiary.
According to Bob (1990), only the biggest Japanese companies
possessed great autonomy.
Methods of investigation
The data was gathered from a survey of 591 chemical industry
subsidiaries in the United States.
A preliminary questionnaire based on Aupperle's (1982) mail survey
of corporate social responsibility orientation and Blake's (1981)
survey of public relations management was constructed.
After a pilot research project in which eight industry experts from
international and local businesses commented on and completed
questionnaires or conducted telephone interviews, the survey was
amended.
Findings
This research investigated whether there are variations in corporate
citizenship among countries of origin.

4. It examined four areas of concern: corporate citizenship
orientations; organisational stakeholders; corporate citizenship
concerns; and decision-making autonomy in corporate citizenship.
Overall, it was shown that nation of origin did not seem to have a
substantial effect on any of these categories.
However, it did seem to have a considerable in
fl
uence on the
degree of autonomy in corporate citizenship choices.
Corporate citizenship perspectives
The four corporate citizenship attitudes were not observed to vary
considerably between countries.
There were no trends emerging among the nations such that one
could generalise, for example, that Country A would prioritise
economic orientations over the other three.
Economic and legal duties always took precedence over ethical and
altruistic responsibilities.
Stakeholders in the organisation
There were no signi
fi
cant changes in the perceived relative
signi
fi
cance of the stakeholder groups related to the nation of origin
of a company.
Instead, across all sample organisations and nations, the
stakeholder groups seemed to be prioritised in the same order.
The scores were calculated using a ranking technique in which a "1"
indicated the highest level of relevance and a "5" indicated the
lowest level of importance.
Concerns about corporate citizenship
Corporate citizenship problems tend to be prioritised in a somewhat
consistent way across countries.
In general, three concerns were regarded as high priorities
across all countries of origin:
Employee health and safety at work, regulatory compliance, and
environmental protection.
The graph clearly shows that every nation regarded those concerns
as being of the utmost signi
fi
cance.
The top three most critical corporate citizenship concerns were
identi
fi
ed as employee health and safety, environmental
conservation, and regulatory compliance.
Community-focused topics tended to get less attention in
general.

5. In terms of nation of origin, Japan seems to be the most concerned
about all corporate citizen concerns overall.
However, on the most important concerns, such as employee health
and safety in the workplace , environmental protection, and
regulatory compliance, Japan placed towards the bottom of the
sample countries.
Decision-making autonomy in corporate citizenship
The United States looks to be the most centralised, with
headquarters in charge of corporate citizenship decision-making.
Foreign af
fi
liates of Swedish corporations had the highest level of
subsidiary autonomy.
The other nations were located somewhere in the middle between
these two extremes.
Germany and France were similar to Sweden in terms of the degree
of autonomy granted to subsidiaries by headquarters.
Conclusions
The purpose of this research was to see whether different countries
of origin have different ideas of corporate citizenship and what
in
fl
uence the host market environment has on foreign attitudes
towards corporate citizenship.
Foreign af
fi
liates sampled in this research were found to have
corporate citizenship attitudes and priorities among organisational
stakeholders that were relatively comparable to domestic
businesses in the US chemical sector.
Although corporate citizenship choices are made in the home nation
on occasion, virtually nothing can be regarded as endangering US
communities.
Based on the present research, it is dif
fi
cult to explain the anxiety
about the growing alien presence.
Because the phenomenon of FDIUS is relatively new to the general
public and gaining traction, people outside the business world may
be concerned as a consequence of media attention around the
entry of foreign commercial entities into our local communities.
Overall, it should not be believed that international af
fi
liates are less
concerned with corporate responsibility than their American
counterparts.
The emphasis has switched away from US investment overseas
and toward fast rising investments in "small-town" America.

6. As of yet, it seems that overseas af
fi
liates do not vary considerably
from domestic enterprises in terms of corporate citizenship
preferences.
More empirical investigation is required to ascertain if these entities
exist.
They should put their money where their mouths are.
References
1. Shear, j. : 1900, July 2, 'Foreign Investment is Making
Borderless Corporate World', Insight, pp. 40—42.
2. Hofstede, G.: 1980, Culture's Consequences: huemational
Differences in Work-related Values (Sage Publications, Beverly
Division of Environmental Analysis and Policy, Hills, CA).
3. Choate, P.: 1990, 'Political Advantage: Japan's Campaign for
America', Harvard Business Review, Sept.—Oct., 87— 103.
4. Bob, D. E., and SRI International: 99Q, Japanese Companies
in American Communities — Cooperation, Con
fl
ict, and the
Role of Corporate Citizenship (Japan Society, Inc., New York).
5. Blake, D. H.: 1980. 'The Management of Sorial Policy by
Multinational Corporations: A Research Agenda', in L. E.
Preston (ed.). Research in Corporate Social Performance
andPolicy, uol. 2 QAl, Greenwich, CT}, pp. 103-124.
6. Averyt, W. F.: 1990, 'Managing Public Policy Abroad: Foreign
Corporate Representation in Washington', Columbia Journal of
World Business, Fall, 32—41.
7. Auppcrlc, I, E: 1982, 'An Empirical Inquiry into the Social
Responsibilities as Dcfmed by Corporations: An Examination
of Various Models and Relationships' (Doctoral dissertation.
University of Georgia, 1982).
8. Photo by ben o'bro on Unsplash
Contact us at meenaorange1111@gmail.com for guidance,
consultation, and Citizenship By Investment Programs
arrangements.