GAINING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FROM CSR POLICY CHANGE-CASE OF FOREIGN CORPORATIONS IN VIETNAM

This article offers two interrelated strategies to be used facing corporate social responsibility challenges. As integrated strategies, they both recognize non-market and social forces while dealing with traditional business issues and taking into account the reality of the market. Avant-garde advocating for progressive social responsibility policy enables firms, the game-changers to actively or even proactively shape their own strategy by raising barriers to competitors striving to develop identity status. Systematically conforming to current and changing standards of social responsibility set forth by policymakers and supported by policy activists allows firms, the game-followers to adapt to the situation at their own pace. This article presents four case studies in the FMCG industry in Vietnam that highlight how some firms have successfully implemented these strategies while others have not.