Comparing Sustainability Communication in Swedish and Ukrainian Companies : The case of Cloetta and Roshen

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Comparing Sustainability

Communication in Swedish and

Ukrainian Companies:

The case of Cloetta and Roshen.

Karl Volkohon

Master thesis, 15 hp

Media and Communication Studies

Supervisor: Ekaterina Kalinina Sustainable communication Spring 2021 Examiner: Renira Gambarato

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ABSTRACT

Writer: Karl Volkohon

Title: Comparing Sustainability Communication in Swedish and Ukrainian Companies Subtitle: The case of Cloetta and Roshen.

Language: English Pages: 44

This is a study of how two companies from different countries construct and communicate their Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The companies are from the confectionery industry with a similar size, sales, and number of factories. The only difference is the origin of the companies. One is from a developed country (Cloetta based in Sweden) and another is from a developing country (Roshen based in Ukraine). The combination of critical discourse and comparative analysis is used in the study to explain the contexts of countries and companies. The analytical categories are based on Triple Bottom Line Theory and the value-based concept of Sustainability.

The study shows the differences in the constructs of Sustainability and CSR of companies from Sweden and Ukraine. Cloetta's communication is used as a form of legitimization and a tool of green marketing (for enhancing the image and its repair in case of a crisis). Roshen's communication is less developed and used as a self-promotion tool (sustainability understood as philanthropy). The findings add the knowledge in Sustainability and CSR traditions in developing and developed countries.

Key words: Sustainability, Communication, Cloetta, Roshen, Sustainable Development Goals, Sweden, Ukraine, Comparative Study

JÖNKÖPING UNIVERSITY School of Education and Communication

Box 1026, SE-551 11 Jönköping, Sweden

+46 (0)36 101000

Master thesis, 15 credits

Course: Sustainable Communication Term: Spring 2021

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List of figures

Figure 1. Relationship between corporate sustainability and CSR 14

Figure 2. The company’s logo on the playground 23

Figure 3. The example of depicting invested money 25

Figure 4. The numbers are emphasized in the report 26

Figure 5. “Risks we consider” box 33

Figure 6. The photos, which represent people 34

Figure 7. The financial data in the sustainability report 35

Figure 8. The titles for Sustainability targets 2020 36

Figure 9. “For you” and “For people” divide in the report 37 Figure 10. Graphs show that two out of three goals are not fulfilled 39

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Introduction

Scholars have explored that sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting have become “commonplace in organizations” and recognized it as a “dominant issue across the globe” (Ki & Shin, 2014, p. 2). Research shows that businesses and corporations play a significant role in sustainable development and implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Zhang, Morse, & Kambhampati, 2018, p.88). However, sustainability reporting and communication in companies have become stakeholders-related information and public relations strategies, business strategies, and self-promoting activities (Koep, 2017, p.2; Amaran & Haniffa, 2011, p.153). Companies could use their positive CSR reputation to help the brand to recover in a case of an ethical crisis or misconduct (Insch & Black, 2018, p.7-8).

This research is situated in the field of sustainability and organizational communication in countries with different backgrounds (a developed country, Sweden, and a developing country, Ukraine). In developed countries, companies and organizations have a stronger tradition of CSR strategies and communication (Jamali & Karam, 2018, p.44). The responsibility reporting and literature on CSR have decades of history and focus on a vast number of issues: the role of business in sustainable development; the history of CSR; the aims of CSR; traditions of CSR-reporting; greenwashing (Jamali & Karam, 2018; Zhang et al., 2018). On the other hand, in developing countries sustainability reporting is less popular. The research done by Jamali and Karam (2018, p.35) shows that the number of research studies on sustainability reporting in developing countries has been growing only after 2005. By 2013, the scholars characterized the CSR-reporting in developing countries to be in its infancy. They described it as a less popular and less researched practice than in developed countries. Another problem was that those studies were concentrated on Western countries (Fifka, 2013, p.19; Jamali & Mirshak, 2007, p.244; Makarenko & Adu, 2018; Petrashko, 2018, p.6). This study could fill this gap: expand the knowledge about CSR traditions and methods of a company from a developing world.

The thesis project compares two similar companies from the same sector with the same business model and size. The key difference is the origin of those companies. One is from a developed country, the other based in a developing country. The CSR/Sustainability

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Comparing CSR traditions and communication strategies could show the differences in CSR perception and ways of communicating it.

According to Nielsen’s (2011) “Classifications of Countries Based on Their Level of Development,” the developed and developing countries were chosen. The author analyzed UNDP, the World Bank, and IMF (International Monetary Fund) standards to list developed and developing countries. The choice of Ukraine could expand the knowledge about

responsibility reporting in Eastern Europe, where the CSR reporting tradition had just begun (Fifka, 2013, p.19). Moreover, the language skills of the author could contribute to more knowledge about Ukrainian-language CSR communication because English-language communication and publications prevail in the field (Fifka, 2013, p.3-4).

The study focuses on the confectionery industry, which is interesting for the analysis because it faces difficulties in reaching sustainability: the main issues are unethical sourcing of raw materials and child labor (Cocoa Barometer, 2018; Laugesen, 2013). Those unsustainable practices lead to threading biodiversity and forests. From the food industry company’s

perspective, it is essential to use communication to build a positive CSR reputation because it could mitigate potential crises due to unsustainable behavior (Insch & Black, 2018;

Laugesen, 2013; Lingard, 2012; Zhang et al., 2018, p.110).

The two companies from the confectionery industry are Cloetta AB, referred to as “Cloetta,” and Roshen Confectionery Corporation, referred to as “Roshen” in this paper. Cloetta is based in Sweden, Roshen in Ukraine. Their comparable size, revenue and number of factories explains the choice of companies. They have almost the same ranking in the 2020 Global Top 100 Candy Companies list, which Candy Industry Magazine did. According to it, Roshen has $800 billion net sales per year, and Cloetta has $676 billion. It resulted in 27th place for Roshen and 31st_{for Cloetta in a global list. Moreover, those companies are from the same}

sector (confectionery industry); have the same number of factories (8); work in the same amount of countries (more than 50), which makes these companies relevant for the comparison study (Candy Industry, 2020).

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Background

The confectionery industry has a long story of unsustainable actions. In the 17th-century, candy production was tied to the trade of enslaved people. People in Africa worked on the plantations in tough conditions to collect sugar cane. After abolishing slavery in Britain in 1807, the sweet industry had economic problems because of the increased price of sugar. Later, a cheaper alternative was found, sugar beet, which resolved the issues and ended the crisis. In the 21st century, the environment was proclaimed a crucial area of responsibility for food industry companies. In the case of confectionery manufacturers, the most significant hazard is unsustainable cacao production in African and Latin American countries. Some farmers work under challenging conditions, which could be compared with slave conditions in the 17 century. The other problem is child labor. More than 2 million children worked on cocoa production in 2018 in West Africa. (Balch, 2018; BBC Bitesize, 2021; Insch & Black, 2018; Maloni & Brown, 2006).

The analysis of the Swedish confectionery industry shows that the country’s chocolate market is highly engaged in sustainability-related activities. The companies are supporting the projects of improving the working conditions in the cacao fields. The most attention is paid to establishing sustainable production, fighting with child labor, and saving rainforests (Berg & Lidfors, 2012, p.11).

United Nations Development Programme (2007) in its report described that in Ukraine, an eastern European country, the lack of CSR performance is usually described as a result of a soviet heritage. It means that the business and the public see the government as the body responsible for social responsibility and caring (UNDP, 2007, p.23). However, in 2014 Ukraine and the European Union established a political and economic association by signing the Association Agreement, which showed the country's political will to be a part of the European Union in the future(Official Journal of European Union, 2014). The soviet background and a will to be a part of developed Europe could make the Ukrainian CSR tradition more valuable for exploration. It allows knowing more about the increase in sustainability reporting and companies’ attitudes towards CSR activities.

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Aim and research questions

At the beginning of the 21st-century, scholars noted the big difference in research on CSR in developed and developing countries. The context of countries from the global north

prevailed, but the CSR knowledge about smaller, ex-colonial and emerging states were poor (Belal, 2001). Later, the scholars found that CSR research in developing countries has increased since 2005 (Jamali & Karam, 2018, p.35). However, most authors still see a significant gap in knowledge about CSR approaches between developed and developing countries (Cherp, 2005; Fifka, 2013; Jamali & Karam, 2018). The confectionery industry has some unsustainable production issues and uses CSR communication to hide unethical

behaviour (Insch & Black, 2018; Maloni & Brown, 2006).

The thesis will examine companies from a developed and a developing country, to

understand how they construct and communicate their CSR. That is why the study will use critical discourse and comparative analyses in order to fulfill the aim.

Research questions:

1) How does Roshen construct sustainability in its sustainability communication?

2) How does Cloetta construct sustainability in its sustainability communication?

3) What are the differences and similarities between the communications of the companies?

Answering these questions will help us to understand better the differences in how companies construct their image by using CSR communication. Also, it will help for future research about the development of CSR where the cultural and historic background of countries will be explored.

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Research review

The research project is situated in the fields of communications, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. For the last 20 years, studies on CSR and sustainability covered several topics: sustainability reporting in different organizations, reporting practices, using CSR for improving reputation, factors that shape organizations’ image, and different means of communicating CSR (Fifka, 2013; Zhang et al., 2018).

The comparisons between CSR actions and communication have been made in different ways. Scholars who have looked at this subject compared different actors, for example, universities, companies, and non-profit organizations (Ott, Wang, and Bortree, 2016). Also, scientists analyzed different communication channels, such as websites, sustainability

reports, or social media (Dade & Hassenzahl, 2013; Reilly & Hynan, 2014). Some compared organizations from different countries or communication strategies of the same company with different actors (Gill, Dickinson, and Scharl 2008; Palazo, Vollero, Froudli & Sianois, 2019).

Researchers who analyzed sustainability mentions on websites studied many online-pages simultaneously (30, 70, in some cases 300). They used special software to analyze the amount or availability of sustainability-related information. However, they analyzed more industries like oil, gas, or education. The less research about sustainability and CSR in food and agribusiness industry are available (Luhmann & Theuvsen, 2016). For example, Dade and Hassenzahl (2013) investigated to what extent sustainability was communicated via the websites of American universities. The results showed a difference between communication and actual sustainability practices because most websites had no mentions of sustainability. Most recent studies showed an increase in sustainability communication within universities. Ott et al. (2016) compared the content from websites of colleges, universities, top

corporations, and nonprofits. The scholars made a content analysis of 300 randomly chosen websites. Results showed that only four nonprofits had sustainability landing pages, but almost all universities (93 of 100) among 100 corporations 62 used sustainability pages (Ott et al., 2016, p.683). In comparisons of web CSR-communication of companies from different countries, Gill et al. (2008) found the contrast between companies from several regions. The authors made a comparison between the 30 websites of oil and gas companies. American websites contained the most significant amount of sustainability information; European firms communicated more on social aspects of sustainability; Asian companies communicated the

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least. The authors suggested including a greater range of countries and industries in the future (Gill et al., 2008). Most studies used quantitative analysis because a large number of

companies and data were analyzed. However, some authors criticize this approach because of the lack of examining texts and approaches to constructing the meanings, which could be made by deeper qualitative analysis (Koep, 2017).

The role of CSR and sustainability communications in companies’ and corporations’ agendas caught much attention from scholars because that communication is used as a marketing tool and self-promotion tool (Insch & Black, 2018; Koep, 2017). For example, Reilly and Hynan (2014) analyzed sustainability communication among 16 global corporations. The

comparisons had been made between 8 Green firms and 8 Not green firms, according to Newsweek’s Greenest Company 2012. The research showed that “green companies are more active users of social media”(Reilly & Hynan, 2014, p.750). Also, studies showed that businesses use CSR communication as a part of a business plan and a public relations

strategy (Amaran & Haniffa, 2011; Koep, 2017). Luhmann and Theuvsen (2016) studied CSR communication in the food industry. The research found that the consumers lack knowledge about food production and CSR. However, because of critical consumers and NGOs (which have media attention), the food industry companies are using more CSR communication to support the reputation, legitimacy, and gain the trust of consumers. At the same time, scholars suggested that “future research should focus on adding value to industry specific CSR aspects” (Luhmann & Theuvsen, 2016, p.673), which this particular study about the companies from the confectionery industry could do.

Research mainly focused on CSR in developed countries (Fifka, 2013; Jamali & Mirshak, 2007). On the other hand, two overview studies on sustainability in developing countries were done by a professor of the American University of Beirut, Dr Jamali, in 2007 and 2018. In 2007 the author claimed that more studies on CSR in developing countries are needed because they could give valuable insights into the study field (Jamali & Mirshak, 2007, p.244). Later, Jamali and Karam (2018) made a content analysis of 452 studies about CSR in developing countries. They found an increase in CSR communication after 2005 in

developing countries (p.50). Moreover, the detailed study by Makarenko and Adu (2018) showed that sustainability reporting in Ukraine [and Ghana] has increased but still “the both countries are in initial stage of its implementation and wide spreading among companies” (p. 44).

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In some studies about CSR in developing countries, the scholars compared companies of local and international origin (Jamali & Mirshak, 2007; Petrashko, 2018). The results showed that in developing countries, the understanding of CSR was done more as a philanthropic action, and some efforts looked “amateurish and sketchy” (Jamali & Mirshak, 2007, p.260). Later, Petrashko (2018) made a comparative study about the Ukrainian Roshen company. The scholar aimed to evaluate and find the differences in CSR strategies of companies based in different countries - CIS (Commonwealth of the Independent States, post-Soviet republics - comment of the author) country and Western European country. Roshen got 34 points [out of 100] and showed a weak level of CSR. Nestlé got 94 points and showed a high level of CSR. The author concluded that “it has been proven that CSR implementation in the

Ukrainian based company Roshen is far less developed” (Petrashko, 2018, p. 176). The study suggested further research on the CSR performance of Roshen, which this thesis project does.

Knowledge gaps

Reviewed studies show that less sustainable communication and fewer CSR reports have been made in developing countries. Furthermore, the area of practice of CSR in developing countries needs further exploration. Significantly, additional knowledge is needed in the Eastern Europe region, where the tradition of CSR reporting has only started (Jamali & Mirshak, 2007; Jamali & Karam, 2018; Fifka, 2013; Makarenko & Adu, 2018; Petrashko, 2018). The comparative studies show that further exploration of CSR strategies and traditions in different countries could provide more knowledge about the field and give more insights into CSR communication practices (Amaran & Haniffa, 2011; Fifka, 2013). The previous studies on CSR focus more on energy and natural resources industries, such as oil and gas extraction (Gill et al., 2008). Considering that research on CSR in the food and agribusiness industry is "in its infancy" (Luhmann & Theuvsen, 2016, p.690), the study about

confectionary corporations could provide additional knowledge about the food industry. Moreover, the chocolate industry needs more exploration because of cases of child labor in a supply chain and unsustainable cacao production. The companies of the industry could use CSR as a tool of a marketing and image repair in a case of brand misconduct (Cocoa Barometer, 2018; Insch & Black, 2018). Those knowledge gaps could be filled with the present comparative study of two confectionery companies from Sweden and Ukraine.

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Theory

This part of the research describes the theoretical foundations for the analysis of companies’ sustainability communication. For comprehensive exploration and comparison of

sustainability agendas of two companies, the research will look into CSR communication as a tool for legitimization of the company and supporting its image. Also, analytical categories for describing sustainability will be developed in the theory part because it will help to understand how the companies position themselves through discourses on sustainability. This will help to fulfill the study aims.

CSR and public relations. Legitimacy.

This study is situated within the field of Corporate Social Responsibility of businesses. In the 1980s, CSR was adopted in companies and organizations. At the same time, CEOs (Chief Executive Officer), managers, and public relations professionals concluded that it was essential to communicate CSR to stakeholders and the general public (Kent & Taylor, 2015 p.2). Nowadays, CSR efforts play different roles in public relations. Organizational

communication about CSR is part of strategic communication, which could be the tool of self-marketing and risk management. Companies use it to profit stakeholders and enhance the company’s reputation (Amaran & Haniffa, 2011; Insch & Black, 2018; Porter & Kramer, 2006).

For the analysis of companies’ CSR activities, it is crucial to understand the role of CSR in public relations (Kent & Taylor, 2015). Public relations professionals who work in business consider the company’s social capital as crucial as the economic one. Thus, it is necessary to secure both capitals because it could be an investment with returns (Lin, 2001). Also, social capital creates “advantages for individuals or groups pursuing their own ends” (Chen, 2009, p.191). The tool for creating social capital and fulfilling organizational aims is Strategic communication. Strategic communication in companies could be described as

“communication aligned with the company’s overall strategy, to enhance its strategic positioning” (Argenti, Howell, & Beck, 2005, p.354). The main aim of strategic

communication is to make the tasks of the particular organization legitimate. It could be done by setting long-term communication goals. It prevents potential crises within or outside the organization (Holmström, Falkheimer, & Nielsen, 2010; Ihlen & Verhoeven, 2015).

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Legitimacy in strategic communication was defined by Weber as “the justified right to exist” (Ihlen & Verhoeven, 2015, p.131). Nowadays, to be legitimized, the companies have to find compromises to satisfy the demand from different groups, such as stakeholders or the public. Firms are dependent on what society finds acceptable (Ihlen & Verhoeven, 2015, p.132). Thus, CSR communication is one of the main ways of legitimizing companies (Ihlen, Bartlett, & May, 2011; Ihlen & Verhoeven, 2015; May, Cheney, & Roper, 2007). For example, Pezzullo and Cox (2017, p. 177-200) explained that corporations could use

environmental communication to link corporate goals and behavior to popular environmental values. The corporations make this with three aims: to advertise products, enhance the company's image, and repair its image in crisis. Further, in the next section, the sustainability concept and categories which will help to analyze the brand’s CSR communications are explained.

CSR and sustainable development. Triple bottom line theory

Sustainable development is a value-based concept that has improved business responsibility on a large-scale level. The most well-known definition is taken from the “Brundtlant report” in 1987. This report explained that sustainable development “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p. 8).

The role of business in sustainable development is significant. When governments of developed or developing countries face difficulties in social welfare, business CSR could help. Moreover, in developing countries, the corporate sector can fill the gap in providing social welfare services and even be a crucial player in establishing standards of developed countries. The social issues that organizations are interested in can differ depending on the sector and particular case (Zhang et al., 2018, p.52, 69).

In the 1950s and 1960s, especially in the USA (United Stated of America), businesses had a more philanthropic view on CSR. Companies aimed to maximize profits and then donate some money to charity. Most critics of the CSR concept appeared from neoliberalists. For example, Friedman (1962) assumed that a business’s only responsibility is to maximize its profits because only the free market will help tackle social problems. However, the

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business responsibility evolved into thinking of how profits are made because a responsible company is concerned about the society and environment (Zhang et al., 2018, p.46).

Later, Carroll, one of the most respected scholars of the field, offered a modern definition of CSR stated that “The social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has for organizations” (Carroll, 1979, p.500). In later studies, the author developed a pyramid of CSR. It included Economic, Legal, Ethical, and Philanthropic responsibilities (Carroll, 1991).

In the 1990s, the theme of Corporate sustainability gained attention among researchers. The three dimensions of sustainability contained environmental, social, and economic

considerations, as shown in Figure 1 (Van Marrewijk, 2003; Zhang et al., 2018, p.57). According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2000), those parts need to be integrated to “make balanced judgments for the long term” (p.2).

Figure 1. Relationship between corporate sustainability and CSR. Source: Van Marrewijk (2003, p.101)

As a result, the Triple Bottom Line theory in accounting appeared, including the corporation’s economic, social, and environmental aspects instead of the only economic bottom line. It was a way to measure CSR performance in the USA. In 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable

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Development, companies from 22 different sectors presented sustainability reports. It was an essential milestone for integrating all three dimensions of sustainability into CSR (Zhang et al., 2018, p.71). Later, KPMG (2005) reported that 68% of the top world companies

embraced Triple Bottom Line (TBL) reporting.

The Triple Bottom Line theory of Corporate Social Responsibility looks for sustainability in three crucial aspects: ecological, social, and economic. The TBL reporting allows the analysis of three dimensions of sustainability communication. The theory is used in CSR and

applicable to the assessment of businesses. Triple bottom Line helps to evaluate the firm’s CSR activities focusing on measuring three dimensions of sustainability (Brusseau, 2014; Kenton, 2020). Pezzullo and Cox (2017) argue sustainability needs an interdisciplinary approach to fulfill its aims. The key aims are called “three Es - environmental protection, economic health, and Equity - or three Ps - people, profit and the planet” (p.177-200). The business is one of the main actor which could promote sustainability, but there is a

sustainability gap between knowledge and actions (Pezzullo & Cox, 2017). Since three dimensions of sustainability, People, Profit, and Planet, will be used as analytical categories for the examination of CSR communication of companies in this study.

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Methods and material

Methods

To understand how the companies construct sustainability in their CSR communication and compare them, the combination of critical discourse and comparative analysis in this study will be used.

Critical discourse analysis

The study uses the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to explore the CSR communication of two companies. The model could highlight and explain any differences in approaches to sustainability communication in investigated corporations. The method of Critical Discourse Analysis could help to interpret the meanings behind the text. The discourse is defined by Fairclough and Wodak (1997) as the language that is used in speech and writing. However, CDA is “not so much interested in language use itself, but in the linguistic character of social and cultural processes and structures” (Machin & Mayr, p.4). Fairclough (1995, p.59)

developed three crucial levels of analysis - Text, Discourse practice, and Sociocultural practice.

For the analysis of communication of companies, a mixed approach will be used. The categories are based on analysis of discourses, suggested by van Dijk (1988) and used by Olausson (2014) (the categories are bold in the text - comment by the author). They will be combined with methods of Critical Discourse Analysis offered by Hansen and Machin (2019) – to explore the choice of words; and with the comparative analysis – to find which topics and perspectives are absent in the communication. A more detailed explanation is provided below.

Themes and topics: Which claims, discussions, issues, debates could be found in the text?

The themes and topics will be analyzed in three dimensions developed in the theory section - people, profit, and the planet. It will help analyze what kind of discourses and argumentation companies use in all dimensions of sustainability. The topics will be analyzed in three levels as well - text, discourse, and sociocultural practice.

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Choice of words: Which words are used? Words and language are essential in constructing meanings. For the analysis of language, the CDA tools suggested by Hansen and Machin (2019) will be used because it gives tools to study the classification of social actors and representation of the social actions. For example, the social actors could be represented in different ways: personalized or impersonalized (impersonalization is used for enlarging the claims); individualized or collectivized (individualization emphasizes that the actors are real people, not a vague collective); specific or generic (generic used to show the particular person as a type/category, like Muslim); nominalized or functionalized (functionalizations shows what the people do, not who they are); anonymized (shown as an anonym); aggregated (shown as a statistics rather than people) (Hansen & Machin, 2019, pp. 127-132). Social

actions could be represented: as activated or passivated (active is positive representation);

unspecified reactions (when it is not clear what exactly happened); abstractions (when actions are abstract and the details are not evident); passive verbs without agents (to avoid

responsibility for the action) (Hansen & Machin, 2019, pp. 132-137).

Presence and absence: Which aspects, beliefs, ideas are present in the text and which are not? The third tool will be combined with the comparative analysis. The comparison of covered (or uncovered) topics will be made on three sustainability dimensions - people, profit, and the planet. Comparison will show which topics and views are present and absent in CSR communication of suggested companies. More about comparative analysis - in the next section.

Comparative analysis

In general, the comparative approach analyzes two or more objects or ideas. It is one of the best ways to show similarities and differences. This type of study involves understanding and explaining every aspect of the event. “The comparative study helps to define the

organizational structure of the subjects and give the differential points between the subjects matter. In the comparative study, we attempt to identify a cause-effect relationship between two or more groups” (Bukhari, 2011, p.3). In comparing organizational communication, Esser and Hanitzsch (2012, p.48) stated that globalized organizations have been paying more attention to cultural diversity and differences in countries. It resulted in changes in

management and organizations’ communication strategies. However, the number of comparative cross-culture studies has not rapidly increased. The authors concluded that

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“comparative focus is especially strong in the areas of building knowledge and capabilities around working within and across cultures” (Esser & Hanitzsch, 2012, p.59).

In the case of Cloetta and Roshen, the comparison of topics, views, and opinions in three dimensions of sustainability - people, profit, and the planet - will be made. It will help show which topics, perspectives, and opinions are present and not in the company's communication materials. Moreover, the results will outline the similarities and differences in approaches to CSR/Sustainability in two companies, which will answer the third research question of the thesis.

Critique of the method

The biggest critique of qualitative research is subjectivity. Scholars argue that those methods are subjective because they rely on the researcher’s views and perceptions of the material. Academics outline three main problems of qualitative methods: those researches are hard to replicate; It is problematic to generalize findings; and those research have a lack of

transparency (Brynman, 2012, p.405-406). The critics of the Critical discourse analysis method claim that this approach stresses the texts a lot. At the same time, CDA puts less attention on the producers of the piece and the readers. It results in a poor understanding of the public perception of the texts because the research in the news industry reveals that people “lost confidence in journalism” (Hansen & Machin, p.143).

Material

The analyzed studies in the “Research review” section show that the comparison of websites (Palazzo et al., 2019; Petrashko, 2018; Reilly & Hynan, 2014), and sustainability reports (Amaran & Haniffa, 2011; Dade & Hassenzahl, 2013; Fifka, 2013; Petrashko, 2018) are suitable methods for this type of research. The methods, which were described earlier, will be used for the analysis of websites and sustainability reports of companies.

Companies:

In the thesis project, Cloetta from Sweden and Roshen from Ukraine will be analyzed. Those companies are suitable for the comparison study because they are equivalent. According to the Candy industry (2020), Cloetta and Roshen are from the same industry, own eight factories, and work in more than 50 countries. Cloetta was founded in 1862. The company is

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working predominantly in the Nordic region. Their website says that it is the largest

confectionery producer in Scandinavia and The Netherlands. The most popular products are “chocolate products, nuts, pastilles, chewing gum, and pick & mix concepts” (Cloetta AB, 2021, About Cloeta). Roshen works mostly in post-soviet countries. Their main products are “jelly sweets, caramel, toffee, chocolate bars, biscuits, wafers, sponge rolls, pastry and cakes” (Roshen, 2021, About Roshen).

Websites:

The previous studies show that websites are the most popular way of communicating responsibility-related information. The two common methods of learning and exploring a firm’s sustainability are through websites and internet search engines (Dade and Hassenzahl, 2013; Gill et al., 2008, p. 244; Ott et al., 2016). Each corporation of the current research has sustainability-related information on its site. The Sustainability section on Coletta’s website and the Social projects section on Roshen’s one will be studied. Cloetta and Roshen have English versions of their pages. For the relevancy and equivalency of the comparative content analysis, the English versions will be analyzed.

Reports:

Both companies publish CSR/Sustainability reports - Cloetta once a year, Roshen once in two years. Clotetta’s Annual and Sustainability Report 2020 is used for analysis because it

contains Sustainability-related sections (Cloetta, 2021). The report is in English. Roshen’s latest Social report is for the 2017-2018 term. It will be used for the examination because the latest report is missing or not published yet (Roshen, 2018). The language of the report is Ukrainian. The comparison is possible because of the language skills of the author (Ukrainian is native - comment by the author). The different names of reports are not an issue because the business in different countries and continents could call their responsibility reports differently (Fifka, 2013, p.3).

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Analysis and results

Sustainability in Roshen’s communication

Roshen’s website communication and Social Report 2017-2018 are analyzed in three dimensions of sustainability to understand how the company constructs its messages. The company uses the term Social projects in its agenda. Every project explains one CSR activity of the company. On the website, each activity has a separate page with text and photos. In the report, each activity is explained on a separate page. The information on the internet and in the report is the same. It is the example of some Social projects: Support to the national cancer institute, Support to the Kremenchuk children’s hospital, Support to the clinic

‘Okhmadyt’, Support to the Children’s Center for Cardiology, Support to the affected by the conflict in eastern Ukraine (Roshen, 2021).

Sustainable development goals (SDG) are not mentioned on the company’s website at all. In the report, SDGs are mentioned only on one page. Roshen claims (2018, p.17) that the company supports all goals. The main emphasis is on goals №3 (Good Health and Well-being), №8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and №11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) (p.16). A more detailed analysis of the three dimensions of sustainability is presented below.

People

Themes and topics

There are three different categories of people shown in Roshen's CSR communication: students (potential workers), children, and soldiers (supported by the company). The analysis of the website and report shows two patterns of constructing sustainability messages about people. In all examples (soldiers, students, and children), the company does not explain adequately why this category of people was chosen for the support. In the description of projects, it is said, “Special care is needed for injured soldiers” (Roshen, 2018, p.8), “It is the chance [for students]” (Roshen, 2018, p.13), or “Kids are our most dedicated consumers” (Roshen, 2021, Playgrounds). A description of how these categories were chosen or linked to sustainability or CSR is not offered. On the other hand, all three categories of “support” benefit the company or its owner. The soldiers are category supported by the company’s

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owner, and students are potential workers who are needed in factories and children are consumers who like chocolate more than adults. Below the proper explanation is provided.

First, the company has projects to support the soldiers of the Ukrainian army. For example, in the project The houses for soldiers, the company built a house for 16 families of officers, which were moved from Crimea in 2014 (Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 - comment by the author); in another project called Support to the affected by the conflict in eastern Ukraine the company paid for the rehabilitation of injured veterans in the conflict in eastern Ukraine:

Within the Nodus charity project, ROSHEN Corporation provided the badly wounded Ukrainian soldiers with adequate and effective medical treatment and rehabilitation in Ukraine, Austria, Germany, Greece, and Slovakia (Roshen, 2021, Support to the affected by the conflict).

In Critical Discourse analysis, the question of power is “at the core of the CDA project” (Hansen & Machin, 2019, p.120). In the case of Roshen, it is crucial to understand the political link of the company to the former Ukrainian government. The owner of Roshen is Petro Poroshenko, the fifth president of Ukraine. The company’s name Roshen originates from the Family name Poroshenko. Ukrainian media claimed that in 2014 when Poroshenko was elected, he promised to sell Roshen (because the president cannot be the business owner at the same time). However, Poroshenko had not sold the company until 2016. It was one of the most controversial parts of his presidency, criticized by the opposition and media. The important knowledge for the background that Petro Poroshenko during his presidency improved and supported the army a lot. One of the most well-known political slogans of Petro Poroshenko was “Army. Language. Faith”. This slogan used before elections 2019 (which Poroshenko lost) showed the three of Poroshenko’s main achievements during the presidency: improving the army, supporting the Ukrainian language, and independence of Ukrainian church (Kyivpost, 2015; NV, 2019; 112 UA, 2018). In this context, the support of soldiers by the Roshen company coincides with the political line of the corporation’s

owner, which may be used as a form of marketing for Poroshenko as a politician because the brand highly associates with its owner in Ukraine (Moisenko & Kornienko, 2017). The interesting fact here that the research on CSR in Ukraine shows that in 2016-2019 the most popular categories for support were children, youths, and employees. Soldiers were not among the popular categories for CSR projects (Saprykina, 2020, p.9). However, Roshen has

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chosen military men for the support, which is not unusual for Ukraine but supports the political line of the president Poroshenko.

Second, the other category presented in the report is students. The project called Training programs for students offers the chance to get an internship at Roshen and become a worker in the future. The company describes it as Youth involvement and claims that the interns could work and learn at the same time and receive a "worthy" salary (Roshen, 2018, p.13-14). The report explains that:

In order to facilitate the job search process for young people, ROSHEN organizes internships. It is the chance to get beneficial experience and important skills needed for career growth. (Roshen, 2018, p.13).

The company shows internshipsas a social action of business. On the other hand, it leads to receiving the economic benefit in the future. Jessop (2020) explains that internships are an example of Fordist philosophy (based on organized labor, mass production, and

standardization) when the company receives “cheap labor” and potential employees who will have a favorable attitude to the company in the future. In this case, the choice of this category could benefit the company because students could work for the company in the future. In Ukraine, a labor shortage is increasing because more people go to Europe to make money (Prykhid,2018). In this situation, Roshen by student support may create a workforce for the company.

Third, the next category is children. There are three projects for kids. For example, the company has built more than 80 playgrounds in Ukrainian cities:

Kids are our most dedicated consumers, so we care not only about satisfying their taste preferences, but also about their leisure time. We believe that they should have access to safe and convenient outdoor play areas (Roshen, 2021, Playgrounds).

However, the corporation does not link the project to sustainable development goals. Instead, the company describes children as “dedicated consumers.” Figure 2 shows that each

playground built by the company has the brand logo. It shows that one of the aims of the children support is corporate marketing, which helps to image enhancement and product advertising (Cox, 2013).

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Figure 2. The playground built by the company. Source: Roshen (2021, Playgrounds)

The provided examples show two patterns of constructing SCR messages. First, the company uses Social projects for enhancing the brand’s image and supporting the reputation of the corporation and its owner at the same time (Cox, 2013). The company does not explain why the categories are supported or how they were chosen. On the other hand, in the example of children support (or other projects that were not outlined in this chapter, such as Support to the Children’s Center for Cardiology), these actions could be understood as sustainability-related actions. For example, the creation of playgrounds or hospital renovations does contribute to the sustainable development of Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), but the company does not communicate this. The projects are poorly linked to sustainability. Instead, they communicated as philanthropic action, which was used for image enhancement. It shows that company understands CSR as a “philanthropic action”. It supports earlier studies about CSR in developing countries (Jamali & Mirshak, 2007, p.260).

Choice of words

Roshen (2018) claims that “our strongest point is our employees” (p.8). The words

“opportunities”, “support”, “professional growth” are used to describe the actions which the company does for people (employees, staff, and students). The workers of the company are

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impersonalized and collectivized (described as a collective, not as individuals). For instance, “every employee of the company can make a significant contribution”, “every employee of the corporation has opportunities”, “employees, regardless of position, age, sex, and

nationality, have the chance to participate in all internal programs” (Roshen, 2018, p. 10-14). The workers are framed as a collective but particular stories and opinions are not provided. People are described more by numbers, like “more than 5000 employees”, “10 children”, “military man” (Roshen, 2021). The word choice shows that the corporation is framed as a strong player which could provide support, care, and help for those who need it but people are impersonalized and collectivized (Hansen & Machin, 2019 p. 127). The company's actions are only described to enhance the brand’s image as a caretaker, but detailed

information (names or positions, for example) is not provided. In this case, it is hard to check if every employee or student has access to goods provided by the corporation. Even if one wants to check the facts, it is hard because Roshen’s website and report do not contain the contact information of CSR-responsible person. The lack of transparency and vague

representation of workers in this case decrease trustworthiness of provided information about CSR activities

Profit. Themes and topics

The information about profits on Roshens’ website and report is absent. The company’s financial performance is not published or printed in sections related to the company’s CSR. Moreover, after the deeper exploration of the website, the author has not found the financial report or information about financial performance. In the case of Roshen, the company not transparent about its revenue (which describes the business as socially irresponsible) but uses financial data to support the philanthropic spending claims (which enhance the brand’s image). A detailed explanation is provided below.

To analyze the company’s financial performance, it is essential to understand the

sociocultural background of Ukraine. Corruption is considered one of the biggest problems in society. After the “Revolution of dignity” in 2014, significant efforts in fighting corruption were made. With the support of the European Union and the USA, Ukraine built several independent institutions which fight corruption, implemented electronic systems for tenders that have to prevent bribery, and released electronic declarations for public officials, which encourage transparency (Bazaluk, 2016; Weininger, 2019). However, the Corruption perception index 2020 shows that the level of corruption perception in Ukraine is still low

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(Transparency International, 2021). Ukraine ranks 117 out of 179 countries (Sweden in third place). The low index of corruption perception means that people are more likely to give a bribe or forgive corruption (Čábelková & Hanousek, 2004; Bazaluk, 2016; Weininger, 2019).

In the case of Roshen, the company uses the low corruption perception of Ukrainians and not provides data about its profits. Therefore, it shows that the company violates the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility and triple bottom line theory and reporting. Profitability is the measurable index, and the company has to provide it to support the tradition of Triple Bottom Line reporting and transparency. Transparency is a crucial factor in fighting

corruption (Kenton,2021; Transparency international). It supports the findings of Makarenko and Adu (2018), which explained the low level of CSR demand in Ukraine as a result of “low transparency of business environment, company’s accountability” (p.44). Also, Andrieiev (2016) explained that Ukrainian businesses have a low level of transparency and business owners accuse the state and government of the lack of transparency. However, in the case of Roshen, the company is not an example of a transparent company. Thus, the company could not be claimed a responsible business because the data about finances is not provided.

The only available financial data on the website and the report show the amount of money spent on different projects or initiatives. For example, “The clinic Okhmadyt receives a complex financial support from Roshen Corporation on a regular basis. Budget 22 668 506 UAH” or “Roshen Corporation provides financial support to Kyiv Children’s Cardio

Center… Budget 1 360 270 UAH” (Roshen, 2021, Support to the children’s center; Support to clinic). Figure 3 shows that in the report, spending is emphasized by graph design.

Figure 3. “Budget of creating [medical] department” - the example of depicting invested money. Source: Roshen (2018, p.28).

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Figure 4 shows that in the report, the amount of taxes paid by Roshen in 2018 is shown. The numbers seem significant for the reader but it is nothing to compare with. As was mentioned before, the revenue of the company is not shown. It is not clear which part of the entire company’s income was spent on projects or taxes.

Figure 4. The numbers are emphasized in the report. Source: Roshen (2018, p.44)

The available financial data is emphasizing Roshen’s philanthropy. The report contains an extensive section (14 pages, which is the fourth part of the report) called Investments in society. For instance, Fountain in Kharkiv, Reconstruction of the Podol’s theater, Modernization of the zoo in Cherkasy (Roshen, 2018, p.31-45). The Investments in society section is not presented on the website at all. However, the fountain creation, the theatre, and zoo reconstructions are called Social projects on the website. The different connotations show the lack of consistency and strategy in the company’s

communication. Also, an explanation of the term "investment" is not provided. It is unclear what is the difference between Investments in society and Social projects for Roshen. Moreover, the investments are not communicated as sustainability or CSR activity. The absence of explanation of the term “Investment” and link to sustainability shows that the company has a more philanthropic view of CSR, which was found in many developing countries’ CSR traditions (Jamali & Mirshak, 2007). The financial data is used only to

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support the philanthropic actions of the corporation, which results in enhancing the brand’s image and using CSR initiatives as a marketing tool to increase the brand’s legitimacy (Ihlen & Verhoeven, 2015; Petrashko, 2018).

On the other hand, the company, by its projects, finance culture, welfare, and leisure projects, which leads to the sustainable development of Ukrainian society. It supports the findings of Zhang et al. (2018), which explains that corporations could fill the gap in providing social welfare services in developing countries. In some cases, the company explains in detail how the support helped the hospitals or the society at all. For example:

In early 2015, the clinic premises were in a poor state, because the last ground repair works were conducted more than 25 years ago, so all main systems of the building required replacement and modernization. With the financial support of ROSHEN Corporation the clinic managed to modernize the heating system, to renovate the ventilation system… (Roshen, 2021, Support to the clinic)

However, the link to sustainability is not clear from Roshen’s communication. Andrieiev (2016) explained that some businesses in Ukraine perceive CSR activities as a corporate PR strategy in the first place and social benefits “go second” (p.44). In this case, analysis of Roshen’s profit communication shows that the fact of generous spending is more important than the explanation of how the corporation understands it or how it could lead to social development. This case shows that the lack of the company’s transparency (about revenues and explanations) is substituted with the numbers and figures of money spent (which increases the brand’s legitimacy and creates a positive image).

Choice of words

The words “support”, “investments”, “spend” describe Roshen's actions in communications. Those words are used in the context of the philanthropic and volunteer activities with the company's name. The brand’s name is commonly used in statements regarding investments. In some cases, capital letters are used for the special emphasis. For example: “ROSHEN investments”, “The amount of assistance to the cardio center from ROSHEN”, “... a complex financial support from ROSHEN” (Roshen, 2018, p. 22-25). It is an example of

nominalization, which could be used for brand promotion purposes. At the same time, the reasons why the projects were implemented or how they were chosen are not provided. Impersonalized statements are used in the explanations: “For social projects, the principle

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was adopted: the company independently conducts all projects from start to finish - from decision-making to design and full implementation” (Roshen, 2018, p.17). From the quote, it is not clear which department (or person) is making decisions about supporting projects.

The company nominalizes statements in the case of positive (philanthropic) actions. The brand’s name is used in statements about spending. It represents the company as a confident and generous caretaker. In this case, nominalizing (or simply using the brand’s name) sounds more personal. The communication professionals do it to create a good association with the brand and image enhancement. However, who is responsible, who makes the decisions, and how the projects are chosen – the questions without the answers. Since, when it comes to transparency and decision-making about finances, the statements are impersonalized. Impersonalisation helps to shirk responsibility (Hansen & Machin, 2019, pp.127-128).

Planet

On Roshen’s website, there is no mention of ecology at all. Among Social projects, there is only one [out of 13] which could be described as environmental - Modernization of the zoo in Cherkasy. However, the project is not presented by the company as environmental but rather social and cultural. The company stated that “the aim of the project is to create comfortable living conditions for animals and working conditions for employees, as well as to make the zoo more friendly for visitors, particularly for people with special needs” (Roshen, 2021).

The presented information about ecology is not unfolded and explained in detail, like Social projects or Investments to society parts of Roshen’s report. It could be understood against the background of the perception of ecology in Ukrainian society. Sociological surveys in

Ukraine show that climate issues are less important concerns for the people than economic ones. For example, the survey in 2015 showed that Ukrainians understand “sustainable

development” mainly as a result of GDP growth. “Most of the population of Ukraine does not consider the environmental component as an integral component of the concept of

“sustainable development” of society” (Democratic initiatives, 2015). Roshen’s environment communication shows that the company does not write about ecology or the environment because society does not demand it. It is an example of legitimization when the company strives to “meet society’s expectations with a commitment to social and ecological activities

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in order to safeguard its future’ license to operate’” (Luhmann & Theuvsen, 2016, p.689). In the case of Ukraine, the expectations are low, so the ecological performance of the company is absent. It supports the findings of previous sections about people and profit that Roshen uses CSR as a brand promotion tool rather than is a really responsible business. Since ecological actions cannot result in brand image enhancement, the company does not put effort into such projects (Cox, 2013).

The only mention of ecology could be found in the report. It has a Sustainability section, where only two pages are dedicated to ecology. It is only 4% of the full report (2 pages out of 46). This information is available only for the report readers because the website does not have it. It shows that Roshen does not consider that sustainability information is important and worth publishing on the website (which has more readers).

The Roshen’s only 2 pages about ecology are written in general terms. The first page is called “Ecology impact. Packaging”. The company claims that packaging is an essential part of their production. Roshen also promises to “Optimize the weight and size” of each piece of

packaging; responsibly use raw materials; support initiatives on recirculation of energy, and “if possible to use recycled materials” (Roshen, 2018, p.18). The second page is called “Ecology impact. Green office”. The page contains a big piece of text. It explains that the corporation works according to the environmental legislation; the factories develop

environmental measures every year; the employees are encouraged to print on both sides of the paper, for example:

Any industrial enterprise, to some extent, causes damage to the environment. Our business is no exception - food production. Although we cannot completely eliminate the impact on the environment, we take nature conservation seriously and do our best to minimize this impact (Roshen, 2018, p.19).

The company does not provide any supporting facts, information, documents, and specific steps in implementing these initiatives in the text. The money that has been invested in these initiatives is not mentioned (Roshen showed the investments in social projects as was

described in the profit section). It shows that the company not pays attention to ecology and supports the claim of Petrashko (2018) that Roshen is “at the stage of passive compliance with national legislation” (p. 176). A more detailed analysis of used words is provided in the

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Choice of words

The title of two pages about the environment is “Ecological impact”. However, it misleads readers because detailed information about Roshen’s impact on the environment is not provided. It is an example of lexical absence. The actual information about the ecological impact of the company is absent. In this case, the report's authors called the section

“Ecological impact” to make it look like the report contains all necessary elements (Machin & Mayr, 2012, p.38). Also, vague descriptions are used for the explanation of the

environmental values. For example, the abstractions are used in the text about the

environment, such as “as far as possible to use [recycled materials]”, “Every company one way or another [harms the environment]”, “Encourage our workers [to learn digitally]”. Also, a lot of unspecified reactions were detected in the text about ecological impact. For example, “improving the existing environmental structure”, “prevention of environmental pollution”, “providing economic activities with licensing documentation” (Roshen, 2018, p.19-20). In this case, lexical absence, abstractions and unspecified reactions describe ecological actions because the company did very little, and actions become non-specific and generalized in the text (Hansen & Machin, 2019, p. 134).

Sustainability in Cloetta’s communication

Cloetta communicates CSR and sustainability on the website and in its reports. The company has been publishing annual reports since 2010. The last is the Annual- and Sustainability report 2020. It consists of different sections, like “Goals and Strategies”, “Corporate

Governance Report”, “Sustainability”, or “Financial reports, contents”. The sustainability and annual report are combined in one document. The parts which are related to sustainability will be analyzed (At the beginning of the report, it is stated, which pages refer to the company's sustainability) (Cloetta AB, 2021).

On the website, Corporate sustainability is one of the main sections on the main page (notable that the address of the webpage is

https://www.cloetta.com/en/corporate-responsibility. Looks like before this section called “Corporate responsibility”). The page consists of six sub-pages, where a more detailed explanation is provided. Subpages are Targets, Commitments, Strategies, Reports, Code of conduct, and Stakeholders. The information on the website is a shorter reader-friendly version of the information from the

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sustainability report. A more detailed analysis of information is provided below (Cloetta AB, 2021; Cloetta, 2021).

People

Cloetta has three main dimensions of sustainable actions. Three categories are called For you,

For people, and For the planet. It references the Triple bottom line and sustainable

development theory, where the three main pillars are people, planet, and profit (Cloetta, 2021, p. 5, 14).The For people is addressed to three main groups of stakeholders: employees, farmers and suppliers, and society:

We take care of our employees, we strengthen our partnerships with suppliers, engage with organizations to support farmers, and we take responsibility for our role in our communities and greater society (Cloetta, 2021, p.5).

In Sweden and other Nordic region countries, the importance of workers’ well-being and safety has been high since 1970 (Midttun & Olsson, 2018). It resulted in labor movements that changed legislation. Some environmental initiatives were promoted worldwide. Also, “environmental issues affecting public health became a priority of Scandinavian welfare states” (Midttun & Olsson, 2018, p.204). At the same time, child labor is one of the problems of the chocolate industry. According to Cocoa Barometr (2018), more than 2 million

children work in West Africa on cocoa farms, which is not an example of workers' well-being. The Cloetta’s communication about supporting farmers, avoiding child labor in the supply chain, and promoting sustainable shea butter, could be an example of legitimization. In context, when Swedish society demands to respect workers’ rights in all stages of

production, communication management of companies has to use all available resources for the creation of meanings by providing the information to be legitimized by the public. The critical stage is to make an acceptable framework for communications (van Ruler & Vercic, 2005, p. 266). However, deeper analysis shows that Cloetta uses two legitimization strategies to fight potential problems or crises – sharing the responsibility among different actors of the industry and communicating potential problems to whitewash the reputation in a case of misconduct.

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In the first case, Cloetta supports several programs which aim to increase transparency in the supply chain and support farmers. One of the declared aims of the company is to make the conditions of farmers better and prevent child labor in countries of West Africa. For example

enabling living income initiative “pay the living income gap directly to cocoa farmers”

(Cloetta, 2021, p.21). Another projectSustaining Shea is supporting women who are

collecting shea nuts and “promoting sustainable shea butter”. Cloetta does the projects for cocoa farmers and other suppliers mainly in collaboration with third-party organizations (“Enabling living income” is run by Rainforest Alliance; “Sustaining shea” run by AKK, a supplier of oil and fat solutions) (Cloetta, 2021, p.21). It is the example of legitimization in Cloetta’s communication that aimed to share responsibility in the case of misconduct or ethical problems. The projects are not managed by the Cloetta but are collaborated with NGOs and other organizations (Such as Rainforest Alliance or AKK). In the case of an ethical crisis or misconduct in the supply chain, Cloetta could share or even avoid the responsibility because the projects are presented as collaborations. It is a tool to hide the direct link of the company to the potential crises. It helps to influence the consumers’ perception of the brand and could be one of the image repair tools (Cox, 2013, p.286).

In the second case, Cloetta outlines in its sustainability report the potential problems of the food industry. The company constructed a framework about the industry’s problems (child labor, low wages). The report explains the problems of the industry at all. For example, a piece of text about the child labor problem:

The risk for incidents of child labor is not high for Cloetta’s direct suppliers (first tier). However, in the agricultural sector, child labor is a problem. Cloetta is working together with suppliers and NGOs [non-governmental organizations] to help eradicate child labor but it is a difficult and complex matter that is intimately linked to poverty (Cloetta, 2021, p.25)

Another example in the report, there are special boxes with additional information. Those are called Risks we consider (an example is Figure 5). It could be: “inability to recruit and retain the right employees, and breaches of human and labor rights in the supply chain” (Cloetta, 2021, p.20).

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Figure 5. “Risks we consider” box is presented in pages of the report dedicated to people, profit, and planet. Source: Cloetta (2021, p. 20)

The company says they consider the risk of “breaches of human and labor rights in the supply chain” (Cloetta, 2021, p.20) and “eradicate child labor, but it is a difficult and complex matter” and “the risk for incidents of child labor is not high” (Cloetta, 2021, p.25). It means that the corporation cannot guarantee the absence of child labor in the supply chain. These massages are the example of legitimization used in communication to cushion the damage to the brand’s image in a case of crisis (Insch & Black, 2018). The company uses this

framework to be prepared for recovery in the case of an ethical crisis (Insch & Black, 2018, p.7-8). Cox (2013, p.286) called this green marketing which could be used for image repair. Luhmann and Theuvsen (2016) explained that one company’s crisis is a significant hazard for the whole food industry. That is the reason why “CSR’s central concept is that of a potential tool for rebuilding social recognition and acceptance of business activities” (p.686).

Choice of words

The company represents its actions as done For people. The main words which are used to describe the actions of a company towards people are “safety,” “well-being,” “change.” The company is not presenting the people as part of a corporation. Instead, Cloetta represents workers as independent actors, which is essential for the well-being of the corporation. For example, “Taking care of people...is crucial for our success” (Cloetta, 2021, p.14). To support the arguments, the company provides photos of actual workers. It is an example of the

individualization of social actors. The workers are described as individuals.

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Figure 6. The photos, which represent people. Source: Cloetta (2021, pp.14, 21)

On the photos (Figure 6) workers are smiling and seem happy which fulfill the aim of the company (to show that farmers and workers in African countries are happy). However, the names or positions of the shown workers are not given. The people are not personalized, instead described as a part of the collective (Hansen & Machin, 2019 p.127-129). It is not evident whether they are real workers or not (which farm/factory they worked on, for what period or position). The reader cannot check it. In this case, it creates a positive image of the company (which cares about its suppliers/farmers), but the evidence is not provided. It may be just a form of green marketing to create a positive perception of the brand by

consumers/media/public (Cox, 2013).

Cloetta’s corporate goals towards people are formulated like challenges but abstracted because the goals do not have particular terms “Significant goals: Zero accidents. 100% Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa… Living income paid to farmers in our supply chain” (Cloetta, 2021, p.14). Also, the abstractions are used in statements about the industry problems, such as “The risk...is not high” or “it is a complex matter.” In this case, the abstraction (of goals and formulations) shows that the actual actions are not evident and not supported by facts or measurements, which could mislead the reader and hide real problems of company and industry not to harm the company’s image (Hansen & Machin, 2019 p.127-129).

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Profit

Cloetta provides information about the company’s finances in the report. The big parts of the report are called Financial performance and Financial reports, contents. In the sustainability part, information about the profits of the company is provided as well. The tax information and distributed value among shareholders, suppliers, and employees is shown (Cloetta, 2021, p. 17). Figure 7 shows that the information is presented in reader-friendly way. The company is following the standards of the Triple Bottom Line reporting (Kenton, 2021). The financial data is presented in the report and open to everyone. The company provides information about the financial performance for the readers of the report.

Figure 7. The financial data in the sustainability report is presented in graphs. Source: Cloetta (2021, p. 17)

At the same time, in the communication about profits Cloetta uses green marketing to link corporation aims and regular work to environmental values and use legitimization and abstractions in writing about goals (the same strategy is used for writing about people).

As was mentioned before, Cloetta uses the standards of Triple bottom line reporting. In the company’s report the three pillars of Cloetta’s Sustainability agenda are presented. Those are called For you, For people, and For the planet (Shown on Figure 8). For you is addressed to consumers. The theory of sustainable development and TBL theory explains the third pillar as profits or economic development. However, the company represents the third dimension, like actions that are done for the consumers (Cloetta, 2021, p. 5, 14).