Corporate sustainability of Japanese multinational enterprises in ASEAN

This thesis investigates how Japanese manufacturing multinational enterprises operating in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, meet the challenges of sustainability. The research was carried out through semi-structured interviews with 58 representatives from 16 Japanese multinational enterprises operating in the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. This thesis provides unique insights into how management understand sustainability, and the prioritisation processes for engaging with sustainability. Alongside these insights, the thesis presents a practical assessment tool for assessing the sustainability performance of multinational enterprises against the Sustainable Development Goals, and how sustainability reporting can be better targeted towards achieving local legitimacy.