Private Decisions, Public Results The Legitimacy of German Business Action in Response to the Refugee Crisis

Abstract

The author aims to provide a better understanding of how large German companies are responding to the current refugee crisis and to ultimately interpret this within the framework of legitimacy. Moreover, the purpose is to examine the role of the UN Global Compact within the German refugee crisis. Though the term corporate social responsibility (CSR) gained in popularity, the academic literature on the role of the private sector in response to a humanitarian crisis is practically non-existent. By responding to the refugee crisis, companies can avert the social problems caused by the crisis and ensure a high degree of stability within society. Business action responding to the refugee crisis has social – and political effects on society. Since companies have no democratic mandate, questions about legitimacy of these roles that companies are performing vis-à-vis society need to be addressed. Legitimacy exists according to Beetham (2013), out of three levels: views of legality, views of justification, and acts of consent. Since German companies are commonly responding to the refugee crisis, more than elsewhere, Germany is picked as a case-study.

This explorative research is carried out by a qualitative content analysis of the corporate websites of all the 53 German companies who are on the most recent Forbes 2000 list of the world’s biggest public companies. To verify the results, contact was made with these 53 companies through the e-mail. Results show nine different types of social private action, these are: financial donations, material donations, employee volunteering, human resources, education and training, advice and mentorship, social services and products, leisure activities and making connections and collaborations. Moreover, results indicate that on the global level the UN Global Compact signals business action in response to the refugee crisis to markets while on the local level it primarily functions as a learning platform. The main conclusion is that legitimacy can best be placed on a scale, with business action in response to the refugee crisis that is legal, addresses all refugee rights, addresses all social needs and is not subject to acts of dis-consents, being completely legitimate in its nature.