Neo-paternalistic Model or Corporate Social Responsibility? Path Dependence and Path Dissolution at Post-Soviet Tatneft

Organisational path dependence is considered as an increasingly popular direction for analysing development of companies and industries because it gives an understanding of how patterns of decision-making and/or activities are created and how they influence companies’ efficiency in the present. Path dependence may appear in different activities of a company, even those that are not connected to the core business processes. In this thesis, it was decided to explore this theoretical concept and its elements (such as self-reinforcing mechanisms) in realization of corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles, which are playing an important role in the company's interaction with society. International standards’ implementation in CSR activities is supposed to be one of the possible ways of breaking the path, because lock-in to the path may be dangerous for company's efficiency, as it stops “seeing” alternatives. That is why path dissolution is discussed widely in scientific circles. Nowadays, Russian companies, in the oil and gas industry in particular, are using the principles of CSR in order to meet the expectations of society and be more competitive in the market. However, the organizational path dependence and the influence of applying CSR principles on the possibility to break the path were not fully studied yet, especially in Russia. This thesis is aimed to fill this gap on the example of a single case study. Empirically, we analyse the long-term development of CSR activities of the Russian oil and gas company Tatneft, which were established in Soviet times. Triangulating data sources by conducting interviews and analysing existing data, it is concluded that path dependence in certain activities is present. However, orienting on international standards provides an ability to see possible direction of further development and avoid potential lock-in in the near future. This thesis is making a contribution to the theory of path-dependence, CSR principles development in a particular country and industry and its results may be useful for companies’ management and government. Moreover, unique data gathered was used for preparing teaching case for students of management studies.