The Responsible Corporation in a Global Economy brings together 12 diverse, but complementary, and at times, contradicting chapters by scholars and practitioners with vast theoretical grounding and practical insight on issues of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Emanating from a workshop with similar title, the unities informing this book are derived from the knowledge exchange opportunity provided the authors by the conference, and the commitment by the editors, Colin Crouch and Camilla Maclean, to bring CSR to political science debate where its reverberating claims of corporate citizenship, governance and ethics can be critically interrogated. This sharp focus is not only intended to clarify the continuing debate and muddle nature of the concept of CSR, but to also open new avenues for deliberation as major firms encroach upon the space of regulatory frameworks. In focusing on the ethical dimensions of CSR, the book gives a lease of life to the politics of globalization, governance and the “presentation of firms' own position on CSR issues, without concluding that ethical issues have a real resonance among the publics of modern societies” (p. 4).
While the book is anchored around attributes that might constitute a responsible corporation in the global economy and the mappings of the larger CSR debate, it is also clear that the common thread reinforcing the book's convergence and divergence relates broadly to the recurring themes of: how the role or purpose of a corporation changes over times and space; corporations' changing role from a practice‐based and normative position; the limits of CSR and whether this approach is an appropriate means to address “public” issues at all; and the purely ethical dimensions of CSR and the relationship between individual and corporate ethics. In addition, the interdisciplinary nature of The Responsible Corporation in a Global Economy underscores both the emerging context of knowledge production and the persistent orientations of academic and practice‐based actors. As the chapters revealed, within the academic realms the search for analytical depth and abstractions endure, while the practice‐based actors are unwavering in their quest to refine the empirical applications and limitations of CSR. In spite of this, the divergent and often contradictory nature of the contributions should be seen as strength, rather than weakness. As such, this should accentuate the editors' call to explore the full extent of the book rather than “dip” in.
Turning attention to the individual parts, the reader is instantly confronted by Elaine Sternberg, in chapter 2, with a CSR problematic, how seriously should it be taken? For Sternberg, by starting with faulty assumptions and applying defective theories, the conventional approaches to CSR are profoundly counterproductive and undermine, rather than encourage, responsible business. Sternberg calls for a retreat from oxymoronic demands for CSR to a realist business ethics in its simplistic terms: business is ethical when it maximizes long‐term owner value subject to distributive justice and ordinary decency. However, the contrasting nature of book is instantaneously evident as Alyson Warhurst, in chapter 3, takes the preceding chapter to task for insisting that corporations must not go out of their way to define and promote wider self‐chosen objectives. As Warhurst asserts, this position is untenable as there will always be individuals acting within corporations that act in socially irresponsible ways. It is apparent, therefore to state that the two key dimensions of CSR, the issues of social justice and global challenges, will always manifest a response from global corporations beyond their core business activities.
In chapter 4, Celia Moore takes the argument a step further in providing what could be termed an insider's view of IBM. The core argument she advances, in spite of the overly rosy picture she painted of IBM, is that IBM from a practical business perspective is not just following the global CSR mantra, but serious about the role of CSR in developing business and building an attractive reputation. This takes the reader into chapter 5, where Klaus Leisinger offers a theoretically driven argument based on the application of the Dahrendorf model with its three normative levels – “must”, “ought to”, and “can”. Leisinger provides as a way of illustrating the gradation of corporate responsibility and requisite moral duties. In the process, the controversy over what constitutes the right thing to do generally arises from the fact that different parties base their norms on diverging values, personal experiences and vested interests. As such, there is the likelihood that business ethics in the sense of good corporate responsibility performance will become a new and solid basis of corporate competition and in the process transcend the boundaries of classical markets.
In chapter 6, Adrienne Heritier, Anna Muller‐Debus and Christian Thauer unpacked the reasons why firms would be motivated to engage in the costly behaviour of controlling their suppliers throughout the entire production process. They contend that firms' motivations are derived from both markets and politics. Similarly, Andre Sobczak concluded in chapter 7 that the urge to contribute to better living and working conditions of different stakeholders accounts for the inclusion of a labour relations perspective in CSR. In a related context, Antonio Tencati, focuses in chapter 8 on the processes through which CSR is coming to developing countries. He contends that collaborative enterprises that value and develop long‐lasting relationships with their stakeholders generate sustainable values for their different constituencies. This is followed by Peter Utting in situating UN thinking and policy on CSR within the broader context of innovative and progressive UN ideas in the fields of development and governance. He argues that CSR is indicative of the ideological and policy convergence that has taken place among UN entities and the international finance and trade organizations. He, however, questions the merits of CSR an as approach to inclusive and sustainable development.
Shifting gears, Jeremy Moon, Andrew Crane and Dirk Matten utilize the concept of citizenship to identify and evaluate the different political roles of corporations in chapter 10. They saw citizenship as a propitious basis for investigating corporations' contributions to governance precisely because it concerns relationships between the governed and the governors, and their respective rights and responsibilities. In their view, this approach is to enable scholars to scrutinize the ways in which “corporations resemble or are aligned with human citizens; the ways in which corporations could be considered as like governments in relation to human citizens; and the ways in which corporations enable wider citizenship behaviour” (p. 218). It also feeds into the core argument by Eliza Gaffney and Peter Newell that whiles the concept of citizenship is a useful means to think about corporations' roles and responsibilities it should only be viewed as a means through which the demands of corporate citizenship are examined. This conceptualization, they believed provides the space for one to search for institutional arrangements that allow for dealing with the complexity of claims about rights and responsibilities. This, in turn opens the door for David Finegold, Mohammed Ali and Anne‐Laure Winkler in chapter 12 to explore new ways of organizing and governing the creation of economic value, and alternate ways through which more socially responsible behaviour, while minimizing adverse impacts on economic efficiency and wealth creation, can be fostered.
The Responsible Corporation in a Global Economy has given us reasons to be both guarded and inspired. The level of organizational ability and the diversity of the chapters is an indication that the book will be of value not only to theoretically savvy interdisciplinary academics looking for life beyond the firm, but will be of equal value to practically‐oriented practitioners. In spite of this, the book can be critiqued on three levels. First, the chapters authored by practice‐based experts provide a rosy CSR picture even in the face of mounting evidence of corporate greed and exploitation. For instance, one is left wondering what really is critical about Elaine Sternberg's chapter. She fails to unmask, in a critical social science tradition, how CSR is not an endless mantra preventing responsible and ethical business. Sternberg's argument that insistence on CSR is a violation of corporate fundamental human rights comes across as a disguised neoliberal rationalization. In fact, the only thing close to human right violation is the persistent social, ethical and environmental irresponsibility of firms under the guise of upholding stakeholder interest.
Also, while the book moved the CSR debate from the corridors of business management into the realms of political science and ethics, it devotes very little space to a critical assessment of how CSR plays out in the international development arena, and whether there is a role for multinational corporations to combine their conscientious stakeholder mandate with corporate accountability. This is surprising, since it is within the cupola of international development that issues of governance and citizenship tend to loom large. However, the questioning of the merits of CSR an as approach to inclusive and sustainable development by Peter Utting, in chapter 9, may become a rallying point for the book in provoking further debate. Again, the book overly focuses on the firm level analysis of CSR with little relevance to international business practices. In fact, one expects a more critical take on the CSR debate, particularly from international business standpoint leading to the convergence or fashioning of a new orientation capable of integrating both corporate accountability and stakeholder approaches. This is necessary as corporations are increasingly being held accountable for their actions as evidence by the recent BP oil spill in the U.S. Gulf Coast and the ongoing Chevron oil spill case in Brazil.
There is an increasing basis to demand social, ethical and environmental accountability from global corporations in return for their persistent encroachment of both public and private spheres. As such, while existing mechanisms of accountability like the UN Global Compact and OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises are voluntary, the reality is dawning on both advocates and critics that Milton Friedman's defined era of “the business of business is business” though flattering is, in the face of climate change and widening poverty, becoming indefensible. The implications are that the days, when actors, both local and global look the other way while the tragedy of the global commons continues may be numbered.
