Global Corporate

Responsibility

WEEK 2
Introduction/Course
Outline

Dr Kate Grosser
 Week Topic

Week 1 Introduction/ Course Outline

Week 2 Globalization, Regulation and CSR

Week 3 CSR and business strategy

Syllabus

Week 4 Stakeholders and Multidisciplinary Perspectives

Week 5 Multi-stakeholder CSR Governance

Week 6 Business and human rights

Week 7 Global business stakeholders: Workers/labour rights

Week 8 Global business stakeholders: Marketplace drivers

Week 9 Global business stakeholders: Ecological environment

Week 10 Essay Writing workshop

Week 11 Global business stakeholders: Communities

Week 12 Course review and the future of CSR

 Listen to the lectures
The lectures provide you with an overview: broad context
and an introduction to relevant concepts, debates and ideas

Complete the readings

The readings provide you with more in-depth academic
research and are directly linked to your assessments. The
readings also form the basis of your tutorial discussions

Participate in your tutorials

In tutorials you get to extend your learning, engage in
debate and discussion, build your skills and get hands on
assessment support. The more you participate, the more
you will get out of these sessions – both online and f2f
Why Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)?

The changing relationship between business and society

Globalization, privatization, deregulation associated with

the growing economic and political power of corporations
and their changing role in society.

Leading to calls for increased corporate responsibility.

Globalization and CSR
Globalization and CSR: What’s the problem?

‘There is an imbalance between the flexibility of multinational

corporations (MNCs) to spread their value chain activities across
different countries and the limited capacity of civil societies and
nation states to adequately regulate corporate conduct across
borders.’ (Rasche et al., 2017, p.3)

MNCs ‘wield power without responsibility. They are often as

powerful as states and yet less accountable’ (Newell, 2000, cited in
Vogel, 2010, p.73)

‘In principle it is technically possible to craft legally binding

international frameworks applying to corporations, but political
interests and business lobbying have curtailed such efforts until
now.’ (Rasche et al., 2017, p.4)
CSR as regulation / a solution?

‘CSR … as an alternative and more pragmatic way to regulate

the conduct of private actors in a global economy, especially
as national and international legal frameworks remain limited
in many respects.’ (Rasche et al., 2017, p.5).

‘Changing the procurement policies and practices of firms

such as McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, and Home Depot
would have major global social and environmental impacts—
comparable if not greater than that of many national
regulations.’ (Vogel, 2010, p.74).
Types of CSR standards (adapted from Rasche and Waddock (2017)

Principle-based Certification Reporting Process

standards standards standards standards
Description Broadly defined Focused on verified Frameworks for Guidance on
guidelines to steer compliance; verification disclosing how to
participants’ rests on certification information on a understand key
behaviour on social procedures in which firm’s social, terms relatng to
and environmental auditors assess a single environmental and CSR: outline
issues; foundational factory or farm; economic processes for
values and guidelines producers that pass the performance; managing social
that business can use audit are awarded a reports are usually and
as a starting point for seal of approval for a not verified by environmental
initiating CSR action specified period time standard setters. issues
Exemplary • UN Global • Forestry • Global • ISO 14001
CSR Compact Stewardship Council Reporting • ISO 26000
standards • OECD Guidelines • Marine Stewardship Initiative • AA1000
for Multinational Council • Carbon Stakeholder
Enterprises • Fair Labor Disclosure Engagement
• Principles for Association Project Framework
Responsible • Rainforest Alliance • Integrated • AA1000
Investment • Ethical Trading Reporting Assurance
• Equator Principles Initiative Framework Standard
• Clean Clothes
Campaign
The role of government in CSR standards

‘But “private approaches towards global governance are not a

substitute for public policy, but rather an imperfect addition” to
it (Chan & Pattberg, 2008, p. 118). … The future effectiveness
of global business regulation depends on the extent to which
private and public authority, civil and government regulation,
and soft and hard law, reenforce one another.’ (Vogel, 2010. p.
83).

So what can governments do?

From Gond et al., 2011, p. 647-648
CSR as regulation? ’Corporate political activities
and political corruption’ (Nyberg, 2021)

From Nyberg (2021, p. 8)

How effective is private business regulation?

‘The growth of civil regulation has not reduced the

importance firms place on profit maximization; rather many
global firms have now concluded that professing their
commitment to “good global corporate citizenship,” often by
subscribing to a civil regulation, makes business sense.’
(Vogel, 2010, p. 79)

BUT Very mixed success in terms of being effective at

addressing social and environmental problems (Vogel, 2010)
How effective is private business regulation?

‘For all the widespread and widely believed rhetoric about

the “win-win” case for CSR, many developing countries
regard the civil regulations imposed by Western firms a
burden: Meeting the requirements of Western codes raises
their costs but rarely increases the prices they receive. For
many developing country producers, especially smaller firms
for whom the costs of compliance and certification are
burdensome, the private regulatory requirements of Western
producers civil regulations have made it more difficult to
maintain or increase their exports to developed countries.
(Vogel, 2010, p.81)

Understanding power relationships is at the heart of critical

approaches to CSR
How effective is private business regulation?

Huge number of firms have signed up to CSR standards

‘The lack of accountability, monitoring and enforcement

mechanisms is a fundamental problem with the plethora of
human right declarations, codes of conduct, standards,
compacts, policies, statements, reports.’… ‘Signing up to a
code of human rights can easily become a substitute for
ending human rights violations’ (Banerjee, 2014, p. 87)
The Three-Domain Model of Corporate Social Responsibility
From Carroll and Schwartz (2003)
 Key questions

1. How does CSR relate to regulation and the governance of

corporations?

2. Is there a conflict between shareholders and

stakeholders? Who benefits most from CSR?

3. Is CSR practice focused mostly on ‘doing no harm’

(addressing negative externalities) or on ‘doing good’?

4. Can CSR help resolve the big social and environmental

challenges of our time? Or does it hinder efforts to address
these problems?
Global Corporate
Responsibility
Thank you!

Do yourself a favour:
• Read this week’s readings
• Attend your tutorial

See you next week!