Summary of "stages of corporate citizenship", by mervis and googins

Summary of Stages of Corporate Citizenship, by Philip Mirvis and Bradley Googins
Global environmental and social issues are becoming an increasingly compelling part of the business agenda. It istherefore important to build a framework that allows companies to: map their current stance towards corporate citizenship, and assist them in identifying the path to become better corporate citizens.Such a framework is presented by Philip Mervis and Bradley Googins, building on Greiner’s model of organizational growth. The basic notion behind the model is that companies’ development is prompted bymisalignments between the existing internal practices and new external pressures that require adaptation.
Mervis and Googins identify five stages of corporate citizenship. These are characterizedacross several different dimensions: Citizenship Concept, Strategic Intent of introducing citizenship practices, Leadership attitude, Structure for management of citizenship, approach to IssuesManagement, Stakeholder Relationships, and finally Transparency.
In the first Elementary stage, companies espouse Friedman’s notion that business’ only concern is to increase profits. Compliance with lawsand industry standards is monitored by individual functional units. An “elementary” firm would take a defensive stance towards external pressure. The evolution from this stage is prompted byincreasingly higher expectations from society, which challenge the credibility of firms that keep merely to the bare minimum standards.
In the second stage – Engagement – firms adopt a policy-driven strategytowards corporate citizenship, exceeding regulations and industry standards to gain the trust of the public. Leadership becomes more receptive to issues presented by stakeholders, and citizenshipvalues are discussed within the firm. A firm would be prompted to develop to the next stage as the existing internal structure to manage citizenship matters becomes overloaded with demands.
In the...