Business and Society in Challenging Spaces: The Role of ESG in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings

This project formalizes an institutional collaboration between SUM (University of Oslo) and KEDGE, two leading European spaces for research on the changing role of the private sector in society. This multi-disciplinary engagement will take the initial form of four exchange visits, two by SUM researchers to KEDGE, and two by KEDGE researchers to SUM. It is also designed to build competency for two promising early career researchers, and provide an opportunity for scholars and researchers outside the direct project to also have an opportunity to engage and collaborate. Through four team visits (two in Oslo and two in Bordeaux over the project period), the project will create a groundwork and institutional capacity for multiple future grant applications on the emerging global societal role of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles that nearly all large firms now incorporate. Our primary research question that we aim to develop into at least two large-scale proposals is: How and why does ESG expand and challenge business-society relations in fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) settings? We have the following subquestions: 1) What is the relationship between business activity, violent conflict, and the role of ESG components within this relationship? In other words, how do ESG activities influence (or not) the likelihood of violent conflict? 2) How is ESG similar or different in FCV settings when compared to non-FCV settings, and do these practices have material impacts on the firm and/or society? This mobility project will allow project PIs Miklian, Barkemeyer and Hanoteau to formally collaborate for the first time, bridging disciplines of management, peacebuilding, corporate social responsibility, economics, and development studies. These interconnections will force new breakthroughs in business-society scholarship.