Research approach and design

The topic of this research is CSR and sustainability in the international container liner shipping companies and the research aims to find out how CSR and sustainability is prac-ticed in the said companies. The topic is reflected through the UN Sustainable Develop-ment Goals -framework. This research has a combination of inductive and deductive ap-proach. It has an inductive approach since the data is the main source of information to explore the phenomena and it is then reflected with the theories (see Saunders, Lewis

& Thornhill, 2007, pp. 117-119). However, the research also has some elements of a de-ductive research, since the relevant theories are first introduced, and the data is ana-lyzed and categorized using these theories. Despite that, no hypotheses are stated from the theories, but they are mainly used for categorizing and explaining the results, so the approach is more inductive.

This research is conducted by using qualitative methods. That is because the research has an exploratory approach, as it is trying to understand ‘‘what is happening and gain insights about a topic of interest’’ (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill., 2012, p. 180). Therefore, the data is analyzed by words, not numbers. Since the research examines a phenomenon, CSR and sustainability, in a real-life context, the international container liner shipping companies, the research is a case study (see Robson, 2002, as cited in Saunders et al., 2007, pp. 139). In addition, since the study includes more than one case, as in more than

one examined company, the research is a multiple case study (see Yin, 2003, as cited in Saunders et al., 2007, p. 140). Moreover, this research is a mono method research, since only qualitative data is used in this research (see Saunders et al., 2007, p. 145).

The chosen sample for this research is the ten biggest container liner shipping companies in the world. The sample is delimited to the ten biggest companies, because being the biggest operators in the market, they are considered likely to publish CSR and sustaina-bility reports, where they tell about their actions regarding the topic. The research is delimited to analyze only the CSR and sustainability reports of the case companies, so they will be the main source of information in this research. However, the websites of the case companies are used to gather basic facts and figures of the companies, as well as to find information about the CSR and sustainability actions of companies, that have not published CSR and sustainability reports. Thus, the information is gathered directly from the websites and CSR and sustainability reports of the case companies, and not from articles or specific industry publications, for example.

The sampling method is thus purposing sampling, in which specific case companies are chosen because they are seen to be cases ‘‘that will best enable you to answer your research questions(s) and to meet your objectives’’ (Saunders, et al., 2007, p. 231). Due to the time limit of this research, the amount of companies is limited to 10 to have enough time to analyze all the data specifically. The data for the study is collected by utilizing secondary data, more specifically documentary secondary data. Research about the ten biggest container shipping companies in the world was conducted for the thesis.

The case companies of the research are listed below:

• APM-Maersk

• MSC - Mediterranean Shipping Company

• COSCO Group

• CMA CGM Group

• Hapag-Lloyd

• ONE - Ocean Network Express

• Evergreen Line

• Yang Ming Marine Transport

• PIL Pacific International Line

• Hyundai Merchant Marine (Statista, 2019.)

The listed companies are the biggest container ship operators based on capacity per TEU.

The capacities of the companies in November 2019 are presented in the figure 2 below.

Figure 2 Leading container shipping operators in the world in November 2019 per TEU capacity.

(adapted from Statista, 2019.)

Nine out of ten case companies have published CSR or sustainability reports latest of which are: Maersk Sustainability Report 2018 (Maersk, 2019a), MSC Sustainability Re-port 2018 (MSC, 2019a), COSCO Shipping Lines Co., Ltd. Sustainability ReRe-port 2018 (COSCO Shipping Lines, 2019), CMA CGM Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2018 (CMA CGM, 2019), Hapag-Lloyd Sustainability Report 2018 (Hapag-Lloyd, 2019), ONE Sustainability Report 2019 (ONE, 2019), Evergreen Marine Corp. Corporate Social Re-sponsibility Report 2018 (Evergreen Marine Corp., 2019), Yang Ming Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2019 (Yang Ming, 2019), and HMM Sustainability Report 2019 (HMM, 2019). During the writing of this thesis some companies published new sustain-ability reports, so the latest reports available at the time of starting the analysis of the data in January 2020 will be used. PIL Pacific International Line seems not to have pub-lished such report, but it tells about its CSR activities on its website (PIL, 2016a&b). The

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website of PIL will therefore be the main source of data in the analysis of the company.

Moreover, the websites of all companies are used as a source of data for the research.

Since the data is gathered at a certain time point and then compared and analyzed, the research is a cross-sectional study (Saunders et al., 2012, p. 190).

Secondary data is used because it is seen as the most suitable way in collecting data for this research, to examine what SDGs the international container shipping companies have chosen to develop, and what kind of similarities and differences can be found within the biggest container shipping companies in the world. Moreover, getting primary data from the companies, for example through surveys or interviews, is considered to be too time consuming and difficult, since the people that are working in the CSR-depart-ments of the said companies are working all over the world. Thus, getting in contact with the personnel would be almost impossible in the circumstances, and it is not seen as necessary in this research, because the aim is to research and analyze existing reports.

In the analysis of the SDGs, thematical coding is used do to identify certain themes and patterns that repeat in the data. The categorization is done to provide structured and analytical framework for the analysis (see Saunders et al., 2007, p. 479). Moreover, it is done to help in categorizing the results into the different dimensions of sustainability and levels of responsibilities. The findings are thematically coded with different colors to highlight, which SDGs and actions belong to the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainability. Moreover, the recurrence of the SDGs will be reported and concluded in a table, which will be presented in the analysis chapter. The table will work as a ‘‘data display’’ that ‘‘involves organising and assembling your reduced or selected data into diagrammatic or visual displays’’ (Saunders et al., 2007, p. 493). The table will include all the case companies and information on which SDGs they have adopted and on what level with different colored symbols, which are explained on the table. Thus, the table will act as a basis for the analysis and will offer the reader a quick overview of the findings of the research, followed by a more specific analysis of the SDGs and CSR and sustainability considerations in the case companies.