Journal of Business Ethics: Special issue on CSR and business development

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It has just been confirmed that a special issue of the renowned Journal of Business Ethics will be published on the topic of CSR and business development. The publishing date for the special issue has not yet been determined, however, the special issue will include six recent papers from internationally recognised academics including CBS’s Søren Jeppesen and Peter Lund Thomsen. Below please find abstracts of the six papers which have been accepted into the special issue of Journal of Business Ethics.

The papers were initially presented at a workshop for the International Research Network on Business, Development and Society (The BDS Network) in September 2007. The BDS Network was established in 2005 with the purpose of coordinating and connecting important research efforts and posing critical questions about the role of business in development. The network is coordinated by Associate Professor Søren Jeppesen.

For more information on the BDS Network, please visit their website.

Mick Blowfield

Title: Poverty’s case for business: the evidence, misconceptions, conceits and deceit surrounding the business case

This paper is intended to engender discussion about what underlies the growing interest in developing business models that have the explicit aim of tackling poverty, exclusion and exploitation. Social enterprise, bottom of the pyramid, untapped markets, social opportunity and fair trade are amongst the concepts that share the idea that a rational business case can be made for achieving positive social and environmental outcomes in developing countries.

I present an overview of the evidence for such a business case, including a summary of the types and sources of information that have been presented to make the case. Using an analytical framework developed by SustainAbility as my entry point, I show that the evidence of a positive correlation between private sector social and environmental initiatives in developing countries and business performance is often weak. Moreover, I suggest that even where there is a positive correlation, there are misconceptions about how strong the business case is, and therefore how far positive outcomes in terms of poverty etc. will influence business decision-making.

I then speculate as to why, despite the mixed evidence of a business case, ‘poverty-positive enterprise’ is attracting so much attention, and in particular what it might tell us about how poverty and marginalisation are being (re)constructed during the current phase of economic globalisation. I ask whose interests are served by the conceit of a business case, and whether this includes the poor and marginalised themselves. I highlight some of the disparities and contradictions between a business case for tackling poverty, and a poverty case for private sector interventions, and question if emphasis on the business case harms the stated beneficiaries amongst the poor and marginalised, and the goals of the global development project. I conclude by asking what are some of the consequences both for business and the poverty agenda if the business case cannot be made.

Anita Chan

Title: Global Supply Chains & Wages: The case of Walmart and the conditions at the suppliers in China

The paper will analyze and compare the work conditions of workers in toys and garment Wal-Mart supplier factories in Guangdong province. The data is based on a questionnaire survey with 96 workers conducted outside factory gates. The paper will begin with a discussion on the concept of “sweating” and an analysis of the different effects piece rates and time rates have on wages and work hours. It will be argued that a wage system that is calculated based on hourly wage rather than on monthly wage is much more transparent and easier for the workers to comprehend and as a result know exactly how they are paid and awarded their legal entitlements. The paper will end with a discuss some of the popularly held myths surrounding the China’s migrant workers in the export sector.

Maggie Opondo

Title: Hear no evil speak no evil? The Impact of Chinese Capital on Labour Conditions in the

Garment Sector in Kenya

The surge of Chinese investment in Kenya over the past five years is of increasing interest to the CSR movement given that China’s patterns of investment have the potential to support sustainable development and reduce poverty, but have to be done in such a way that is socially and environmentally sustainable. There are fears that the Chinese policy of non-interferencecould encourage Chinese corporations to be socially and environmentally irresponsible. This paper examines the kind of labour conditions generated by Chinese capital in the garment industry in the Export Processing Zones in Kenya. Of particular interest is how China’s policy of non-interference impacts on the circumstances and influences actors that lead to more socially aware and responsible Chinese corporate citizens.

David Fig

Title: The role of business in transformation in South Africa (the Truth and Reconciliation Commission)

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up in South Africa in the late 1990s with the aim of helping to bring about the democratic transition after apartheid. The process was an important one in airing the extent of human rights violations in the darkest years of apartheid. Those who confessed their transgressions of human rights stood a chance to redeem themselves and gain amnesty from prosecution. The process took place across the country and was a cathartic one for victims or their remaining relatives, who obtained some kind of closure. Amnesty was linked to reconciliation and a new start for a rights-based democracy.

Yet one area of the TRC's work has been inconclusive. This is the area of business. The business community had to come forward to the commission to confess its part in the apartheid system. It did so reluctantly, and because it owned most of the print media, was able to spread a discourse of resentment for an unnecessary waste of its time. The context was a highly politicised one. The mining community and its adjuncts in manufacturing and services had since the 19th century created same-sex hostels, migrant labour, sub-survival wages, segregated racial facilities at work, remuneration based on race, pass systems aimed at labour control, restrictions on black trade unionism, racial job reservation, and a lack of rights for black people in urban areas. Some of these practices were later intenstified and formalised under law during the apartheid era.

The TRC report included a number of recommendations for business, including reparations. None of these recommendations were ever implemented. Instead the business sector has been effectively immune from prosecution. Even when groups of apartheid victims have sought reparations in other jurisdictions, the South African state has refused to back their claims.

Ironically the traditional business sector now has to comply with a range of statutory deracialising provisions (including workplace democracy, increase in black shareholding and management positions, employment equity) but there has never been any restitution for past behaviour. New black-owned firms feel innocent of wrongdoing (and often oppose even CSR activities for this reason) while in effect any redistribution at the top has not percolated beneath, and South Africa has now taken over Brazil's mantle as the most unequal society on the planet, with poverty increasing daily.

Does the responsibility of business extend to reparations? If the TRC was partly aimed at nationbuilding through reconciliation, has the rejection of the TRC by business undermined this project? What is the relationship between business and human rights? Has the deracialisation of upper management and the inclusion of black entrepreneurs in an unreconstructed business sector acted to prevent the adoption of the TRC recommendations by business? Because so little has been done to research the TRC/business relationship, it is hoped that this paper will break new ground.

Peter Lund-Thomsen

Title: Global Value Chains, Industrial Clusters, and CSR: Identifying New Research and Policy Agendas

International organizations, bilateral aid agencies, national governments, and local business associations are increasingly trying to incorporate social and environmental concerns in their interventions aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of industrial clusters in the developing world. This happens at a time when many of the key export-oriented industries in the developing world are coming under immense pressure for the implementation of social and environmental standards from foreign buyers. Several industrial clusters - geographical concentration of firms working within the same industry - in South and East Asia have responded to these challenges through joint action initiatives, thus assuming new social and environmental responsibilities. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: (a) to make an initial theoretical exploration of the key linkages between the global value chain, industrial cluster and CSR literatures, outlining key themes for future research within this area, (b) with reference to recent fieldwork, to empirically investigate the potential, limitations, and actual impacts of collective action on supplier competitiveness, working conditions, and environmental pollution within industrial clusters operating in the Pakistani leather tanning industry. The paper finishes with a discussion of key policy implications for future CSR interventions in industrial clusters.

Søren Jeppesen

Title: Coming to Grips with the SMEs and the CSR Debate – What do we know etc

Much hype has been directed towards micro, small and medium-sized firms, hereafter SMEs, however basically little is known about SMEs, CSR and Development. The international literature tends to be dominated by a focus on the North, on large firms and application of normative, universal and positivist/rational approaches.

The paper seeks to take stock of the little we know about SMEs, CSR and Development (concerning environmental issues, safety & health, labour & community relations) and discusses the perceptions of SMEs in the literature. The paper outlines a research agenda that emphasises a) focus on SMEs in the South, b) on the SMEs in their own right, and c) the application of context-sensitive approaches. It further seeks to exemplify potential issues of the BDS research agenda to investigate and concludes with suggestions concerning policy initiatives.