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CIAO DATE: 08/05
May 2005
Critical Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility
Editorial: Setting new agendas: critical perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility in the developing world Michael Blowfield, Jedrzej George Frynas
Corporate Social Responsibility: Reinventing the Meaning of Development? Michael Blowfield
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been adopted as an approach to international development. But who does it benefit and in what ways? Most importantly, does it allow certain interest groups to redefine the meaning of international development success?
This article examines the historical relationship between business and development and compares how expectations of business as exemplified through CSR practices differ from those in the past. It then looks at the role and expectations of business in developing countries and proposes two tests for assessing if CSR makes a positive contribution to development goals based on whether it redefines the meaning of good business practice in the interests of the poor and marginalized, and if it helps development practitioners to manage more effectively the possibility and consequences of global capitalism for poor countries.
The article argues that the interests of business are not adequately aligned with those of the poor, and explains why CSR does little to redress this. It argues that the business case in some instances overrides the developmental case for certain actions, and that business thinking is increasingly evident in the policies and practices of international development. Although CSR may have a positive contribution to make in some circumstances, its limitations need to be understood if development's case for involving business is not to be subsumed by business reasons for engaging with (and by-passing) developing countries.
Globalization, Corporate Social Responsibility and Poverty Rhys Jenkins
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a major focus of interest for development practitioners in recent years. While development NGOs have been critical of voluntary corporate initiatives, official development agencies have taken a more positive view and in some cases encouraged CSR. This article locates the growth of CSR in the context of global deregulation since the early 1980s, highlighting the key drivers that have led to its adoption by many leading transnational corporations. It then describes the factors that have led to the recent emphasis given to CSR by both bilateral and multilateral development agencies and the United Nations. A framework for analysing the links between foreign direct investment and poverty is developed focusing on the impacts on the poor as producers, consumers and beneficiaries of government expenditures. This framework is used to illustrate the limitations of CSR in terms of likely impacts on poverty reduction through each of the channels identified and also to point to areas in which CSR may have some positive benefits. Overall, the article concludes that it is unlikely to play the significant role in poverty reduction in development countries that its proponents claim for it.
Citizenship, Accountability and Community: The Limits of the CSR Agenda Peter Newell
While the issue of the role of the private sector in development is very much on the agenda of donors and governments, mainstream Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) debates continue to neglect questions with regard to the accountability of companies to the communities in which they invest. Liberal notions of CSR place great emphasis on voluntary, partnership and market based approaches to tackling social and environmental problems and managing conflict. While the rise of voluntary standards and codes of conduct in the North and the growing popularity of various forms of 'civil regulation' has improved the responsiveness of corporations to social and environmental issues, there are doubts about their transferability or relevance in many southern settings. This is particularly so when viewed from the perspective of communities pursuing corporate accountability in the absence of donor, NGO or government pressure for company reform. It is in these 'majority world' settings that we encounter the limits of the liberal CSR agenda.
This article therefore explores the different tools that poorer communities have developed in order to construct mechanisms of corporate accountability. Recent work in India is drawn upon to ground the analysis, but reference is made to many other cases in different regions of the world and across a variety of sectors. It is suggested that many state-based, community-based and company-based factors determine the likely success of such initiatives. Power disparities and how to contest them emerge as key, however, and their neglect within mainstream CSR approaches undermines their ability to address issues of corporate accountability in situations characterized by sharp inequities in power. The emphasis here is on the process of promoting corporate accountability, and the relations of power that underpin these, rather than the achievement of more narrowly defined indicators of corporate performance.
The Politics of Corporate Responsibility and Child Labour in the Bangladeshi Garment Industry Michael E. Nielsen
In 1995after more than two-and-a-half yearsa Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concerning child labour in the Bangladeshi garment industry was signed by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), UNICEF (Bangladesh) and the International Labour Office (ILO), Bangladesh. The agreement and the process were uniquely important in a number of respects and this article explores a question that remains almost unasked, although paradoxically it has often been answered: why did the agreement come into existence and take that particular form? This article provides a detailed and documented analysis of the process leading up to the MOU offering not only new insight but also challenging some of the widely held views about it.
Most importantly, the analysis confirms the significance of the so-called Harkin bill and the subsequent threat of boycott as the basic drivers of the entire process. It also points to the use of the Harkin bill by the Asian- American Free Labor Institute (AAFLI) on the ground and the way this was related to AAFLI's active engagement in labour organizing there, concluding that 'protectionism in disguise' was hardly the motive. Furthermore, by highlighting the drawn-out nature of the process and uncovering the close links between AAFLI, the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) and the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), the analysis challenges claims that the industry critics were uninformed and misguided, and points out that statements warning against 'rushing into boycotts' ought not to be based on what occurred in Bangladesh. The article argues that taking into account the efforts it took to move the BGMEA in this case, the approval of softer tactics and the critique and/or rejection of tougher tactics, was as naive as trade sanctions are blunt. In conclusion, in the light of the reported negative consequences for the children becoming a dominant theme in the process, the analysis acknowledges the importance of awareness of the risk of such consequences. However, the article points out that not only were industry critics aware of this and tried from the outset to make the industry accept some kind of responsibility, but also that the negative consequences have their own results serving to redefine the problem, narrowing the agenda and/or transferring moral culpability from corporations to critics.
The false developmental promise of Corporate Social Responsibility: evidence from multinational oil companies Jedrzej George Frynas
Using the example of multinational oil companies, this article suggests that there are fundamental problems surrounding the capacity of private firms to deliver development and the aspiration of achieving development through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) may be fundamentally flawed. The article is based on an extensive twelve-month research project on the Gulf of Guinea region funded by the Nuffield Foundation. This research identified a number of constraints to a developmental role for CSR: the subservience of CSR schemes to corporate objectives; country- and context-specific issues; the failure to involve the beneficiaries of CSR; the lack of human resources; technical/managerial approaches of company staff and the lack of CSR's integration into larger development plans. But even if private companies were able to overcome practical problems, it argues that the current CSR agenda fails to address the crucial issues of governance and the negative macro-level effects that multinational companies cause in host countries. The article concludes by suggesting that a focus on CSR may divert attention from broader political, economic and social solutions for developmental problems.
Manufacturing amnesia: Corporate Social Responsibility in South Africa David Fig
'Manufacturing amnesia' argues that the term 'Corporate Social Responsibility' has been abandoned by most South African firms in favour of the term 'corporate social investment'. This has been done in order to divert attention from calls on business to redress the results of its historical contribution to the apartheid system. The discourse of reconciliation has further served to erase memories of past corporate behaviour. It also masks continuing inequalities and unsustainable practices. Business has responded weakly to the pressures for CSR, of which five broad areas are identified and analysed. Voluntary sustainability initiatives have not succeeded and compliance with black economic empowerment charters and environmental standards have to be legislated and regulated. Firms need to reassess their legacies more honestly until which time their CSR contributions will be regarded as cosmetic and self-serving.
Corporate accountability in South Africa: the role of community mobilizing in environmental governance Peter Lund-Thomsen
Contrasting perspectives of international companies and civil society groups have divided recent debates about corporate responsibility in developing countries. The Corporate Social Responsibility discourse has been promoted by business lobbies, emphasizing the role of international companies in voluntarily contributing towards the solution of pressing social and environmental problems through partnerships with other stakeholders. The notion of corporate accountability has become the rallying point for sustainable development, demanding stricter regulation of corporate behaviour by national governments and the enactment of an international corporate accountability convention. This article assesses the promises and pitfalls of these two competing approaches to industries in South Africa. The article argues that a multi-level approach is necessary to the impact of CSR and corporate accountability initiatives. It concludes that CSR may improve environmental management systems and reduce corporate pollution levels whereas corporate accountability approaches may provide important incentives for companies to improve their environmental performance, assist in the development of national environmental governance frameworks guiding company-community interaction, and facilitate the enforcement of national legislation pertaining to corporate responsibility. However, both approaches fail to address the underlying, globallevel structural causes of conflicts between companies and stakeholders affected by their operations. These conflicts can only be reversed by fundamental changes in the global economy.
Book Reviews: Online publication date: May 2005
International Relations theory
Legitimacy in international society. By Ian Clark.
International society and its critics. Edited by Alex J. Bellamy.
Negotiated revolutions: the Czech Republic, South Africa and Chile. By George Lawson.
International law and organization
The impact of international law on international cooperation: theoretical perspectives. Edited by Eyal Benvenisti and Moshe Hirsch.
Foreign relations
Strategic partners: Russian-Chinese relations in the post-Soviet era. By Jeanne L. Wilson.
Conflict, security and armed forces
International governance of war-torn territories: rule and reconstruction. By Richard Caplan.
Enforcing the peace: learning from the imperial past. By Kimberly Zisk Marten.
Politics, democracy and social affairs
War and the American presidency. By Arthur M. Schlesinger.
The accidental American: Tony Blair and the presidency. By James Naughtie.
Al-Jazeera: how Arab TV news challenged the world. By Hugh Miles.
History
Constructing the U.S. rapprochement with China, 19611974: from red menace to tacit ally. By Evelyn Goh.
Histories of the hanged: Britain's dirty war in Kenya and the end of the empire. By David Anderson.
The lion and the springbok: Britain and South Africa since the Boer War. By Ronald Hyam and Peter Henshaw.
Hindu rulers, Muslim subjects: Islam, rights and the history of Kashmir. By Mridu Rai.
British documents on the end of empire. East of Suez and the Commonwealth, 19641971. Part I: East of Suez. Edited by S. R. Ashton and Wm. Roger Louis.
British documents on the end of empire. East of Suez and the Commonwealth, 19641971. Part II: Europe, Rhodesia, Commonwealth. Edited by S. R. Ashton and Wm. Roger Louis.
British documents on the end of empire. East of Suez and the Commonwealth, 19641971. Part III: Dependent territories, Africa, economics, race. Edited by S. R. Ashton and Wm. Roger Louis.
Europe
The EU, NATO and the integration of Europe: rules and rhetoric. By Frank Schimmelfennig.
Theft of a nation: Romania since communism. By Tom Gallagher.
Russia and the former Soviet republics
Russia in the 21st century: the prodigal superpower. By Steven Rosefielde.
Russian military reform: 19922002. Edited by Anne C. Aldis and Roger N. McDermott.
Central Asia and the Caucasus: transnationalism and diaspora. Edited by Touraj Atabaki and Sanjyot Mehendale.
Middle East and North Africa
International relations of the Middle East. Edited by Louise Fawcett.
Iran, Iraq, and the legacies of war. Edited by Lawrence G. Potter and Gary G. Sick.
Asia and Pacific
Exit the dragon? Privatization and state control in China. Edited by Stephen Green and Guy S. Liu.
North America
The new American empire: a 21st-century teach-in on US foreign policy. Edited by Lloyd C. Gardner and Marilyn B. Young.
Latin America and Caribbean
Bananas and business: the United Fruit Company in Colombia, 18992000. By Marcelo Bucheli.
The strategic dynamics of Latin American trade. Edited by Vinod K. Aggarwal, Ralph H. Espach and Joseph S. Tulchin.
America's other war: terrorizing Colombia. By Doug Stokes.
Other books received
Books reviewed May 2005