BRIC by BRIC: A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis of CSR Reports by Energy Companies from Industrialised and Developing Countries

Over the last decades, the business practice of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has received increasing attention in the media, political discussions, and academia. This book contributes to the scholarship in the field with a discourse study on the genre of CSR (or sustainability) reports in a contrastive perspective, which compares texts from the so-called industrialised and developing countries. Apart from collecting some of the most relevant studies on business discourse and outlining the evolution of the genre, the volume explores the rhetorical construction of an ethical image in CSR reports by the high-risk industries of electricity and oil and gas. Through a Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis, combining macro- and micro-levels of investigation, the study provides interesting insights about discursive practices in different areas of the world, delving into the discourses arising within emerging countries, especially in the infancy of CSR accounting. The book shows that sustainability reports worldwide tend to display successful systems, positive performance, and optimistic forecasts. It acknowledges that globalising trends and standardising projects have influenced and aligned the type and amount of information provided in reports. Nevertheless, the study also reveals how the discoursal organisation and the priority given to the multiple social responsibility areas and themes vary across companies, countries, and cultures. The volume therefore connects the diverse contexts and rationales for CSR to the strategies adopted by businesses for image-building, which may lever on motives ranging from the contribution to causes of national concern to environmental issues, community support, and shareholder interests.