CSR adoption strategies of Chinese state oil companies: effects of global competition and cooperation

Purpose – The purposes of this paper are: to examine the adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies related to environment protection by Chinese state oil companies; and to analyze the effects of global competitions and cooperation on the CSR adoption processes. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a content analysis of 58 corporate reports and three interviews with senior managers from Chinese-Western joint ventures, the authors analyzed the environmentally-related CSR adoption strategies and the effects of global competition and cooperation in Chinese state oil companies. Findings – The findings suggest that more cooperative CSR strategies related to environment protection have been adopted by Chinese state oil companies in the past decade. The main reasons are: the force of international and local environmental regulations; the pressures from partners of western oil companies and the desire to increase the global competitive advantage of the Chinese state oil companies. Research limitations/implications – Given that this study is based only on the analysis of corporate reports and three interviews, the authors' conclusions should be considered preliminary and inconclusive. Future studies should be done to collect more primary data by interviewing and surveying by questionnaire a significant number of managers from these companies to validate these conclusions. Originality/value – This paper highlights the adoption of CSR strategies by three Chinese state oil companies and the effects of global operations which have been little studied academically so far.