Going global: how to identify and manage societal expectations in supply chains (and the consequences of failure)

Purpose – Multinational companies that want to be reputable global citizens need to manage divergent and often conflicting societal expectations. Aims to show that some do this by using a universally applicable set of policies, approaches, rights and responsibilities, while others believe it is better for companies to manage the issues most material to where they are operating. Design/methodology/approach – This paper, drawing on empirical studies in five continents, examines how companies identify and manage societal expectations when the notion of society itself is undergoing change, and the relationship between business and wider society is being revisited. Findings – Discusses the experience of employing global social and environmental standards, the value of thinking in terms of a global ethic, and whose interests are served by this approach. Argues that, with certain important caveats, current approaches to managing the social and environmental dimensions of global supply chains provide at best a crude means of tackling societal expectations that can mislead managers into thinking they have the problem in hand. Research limitations/implications – This paper has consequences not only for those whose expectations are ignored, but also for company managers who think they are doing the right thing but are actually being blinded to important material issues. Argues that this is a direct consequence of how values and power are overlooked in corporate citizenship theory and practice, and that one needs to be more open and thoughtful about what expectations can and should be met. Originality/value – These observations in this paper challenge aspects of corporate citizenship's orthodox thinking and require that new consideration be given to the challenge of working with and distinguishing between global communities of need and of expectation. They provide a timely reality check for those propounding and employing popular contemporary approaches to managing the business‐society relationship, and at the same time suggest more effective ways of addressing expectation management in the future.