The practical use of CSR and sponsorship in Norway

Abstract

The current research investigates the evolution of sponsorships and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Norway. A qualitative approach of grounded theory has been used, and the research has a total of eight respondents spread between businesses and non-profit organizations involved in both sponsorship and CSR. The focus has been to find common definitions and investigate the impact of Norwegian tax legislation and the trial between the Norwegian tax administration and Skagen Fondene AS. Further the goal was to end up with a theory closely linked to practise that managers could with ease use in their business. The current research is an addition to previous research done in the area, but combines theories of CSR, sponsorship and marketing. Results indicate that businesses and organizations with a clear definition of what constitutes sponsorship and CSR also have measurements and knowledge to analyze the measurements they get. This research also shows that there has been little change to sponsorship since 2002, and managers rely heavily on their own instincts. The limitations of the research lie in the small number of respondents and chosen methodological approach. It does however open up for a lot of future research in the area conducted internationally and in Norway. This thesis is divided into smaller parts. Firstly, a general introduction to the Skagen-trial and Norwegian taxlaw, then definition and historic overview of sponsorship and CSR is presented. Then a thorough look at the research question and objectives of the thesis is presented before previous literature. In order to conduct research the methodological setting is presented followed by analysis with coding, theory derivation and results. Lastly discussion, results, managerial implications, conclusions and suggestions for future research are discussed.