Citation: García Martín, R.;
Duran-Heras, A.; Reina Sánchez, K.
Analysis of the Main Corporate
Social Responsibility Drivers and
Barriers and Their Foreseeable
Evolution—Evidence from Two
Leading Multinationals: The Airbus
and TASL Cases. Sustainability 2022,
14, 8167. https://doi.org/10.3390/
su14138167
Academic Editor: Elena
Cristina Rada
Received: 4 May 2022
Accepted: 27 June 2022
Published: 4 July 2022
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Article
Analysis of the Main Corporate Social Responsibility Drivers
and Barriers and Their Foreseeable Evolution—Evidence from
Two Leading Multinationals: The Airbus and TASL Cases
Rafael García Martín
1,
* , Alfonso Duran-Heras
2
and Karen Reina Sánchez
2
1
CMI Business School, Conscious Management Institute, 28006 Madrid, Spain
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering (Engineering Management Area), Carlos III University,
28911 Leganés, Spain; duran@ing.uc3m.es (A.D.-H.); kreina@ing.uc3m.es (K.R.S.)
* Correspondence: rafaelgarcia@cmiuniversal.com
Abstract:
This article undertakes a comparative analysis of the corporate social responsibility (CSR)
drivers and barriers in the European multinational Airbus and the Indian Tata Advanced Systems
Ltd. (TASL), both in their current, as-is state, and in the desirable future, should-be state. These
in-depth case studies are based on structured interviews, complemented with a survey. The re-
search findings provide qualified, bounded support to the currently preponderant view among
CSR scholars, regarding both the preeminent role of the internal (vs. external) drivers and the key
importance of moral-driven (vs. profit-driven) drivers such as the values of the top management.
The caveat here reflects that, contingent on cultural issues, individual companies might not have
reached this state yet. Furthermore, these findings suggest that the current CSR situation could be
characterized as contingent, transitional and convergent; the practical implications for the various
CSR stakeholders of this characterization are discussed. The most salient trait, convergence, suggests
the existence of a certain commonality in CSR’s foreseeable evolutionary path, even among disparate
companies, converging on such aspects as the ever-increasing role of the value system and of the
shared, internalized company culture, and the shift of CSR’s role from obligation to potential source
of competitive advantage.
Keywords:
corporate social responsibility; sustainability; drivers; barriers; aerospace and defense
industry; Airbus; TASL
1. Introduction
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is both a pressing issue for corporate managers
in all sectors and a research topic of flourishing interest. It has nevertheless been sometimes
described as “undertheorized” [
1
], its theory being insufficiently developed to inform
practice. These authors therefore encourage a descriptive research agenda, focusing on how
and why corporations actually engage in CSR, in order to develop a better understanding
of how they should engage in CSR. Other authors [
2
] suggest that, rather than being
undertheorized, CSR is an “essentially contested” field. According to this view, two main
perspectives, the “instrumental/economic” CSR (focused on shareholder primacy, profit
and market value maximization) and the “injunctive/social” CSR (focused on individual
and organizational ethics and underlying social impacts) vie for dominance.
A key aspect within the CSR field is the analysis of the main factors that support
and promote (drivers) or hinder (barriers) the effective definition and implementation by
corporations of CSR strategies that actually achieve a positive impact on their triple bottom
line: economic, social and environmental.
Several authors highlight the existence of a research gap in this analysis due to its
complexity [
3
–
5
]. The analysis of CSR drivers and barriers lies at the crossroad of the
abovementioned challenges: it is both of theoretical and applied/managerial relevance;
Sustainability 2022, 14, 8167. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14138167 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
