Political Institutions and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Nordic Welfare State Perspective from Denmark

In this chapter we present an overview of what characterizes the Danish approach to CSR. The purpose is to present an outline of Danish companies’ CSR commitment and how this commitment is influenced by the political and institutional environment in Denmark. The chapter consists of three major parts. First, we present an introduction to CSR in Denmark. More specifically we provide an introduction to: (a) the Danish welfare state and its business environment, (b) how and why Danish companies are engaged in CSR and (c) the relation between the Danish welfare state and Danish companies’ CSR commitment. Second, we discuss whether CSR should be seen as extra-legal activities, i.e. something that goes beyond the demands of the state and the law. Here we conclude that CSR should not be regarded solely as social and environmental activities that companies voluntarily engage in, since companies might be said to do CSR just by acting in accordance with the demands of the state and the law. This follows recent developments in the understanding of CSR in the EU. Third, we present some future perspective on CSR in Denmark, including a suggestion to address the “new pathologies” affiliated with contemporary work life, i.e. the collapse of the work/life balance, stress, and so on. In our view there seems to be the basis for a “win-win” scenario when it comes to more focus on protection of the workforce against stress etc.