| 1. |
- De Geer, Hans, et al.
(författare)
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Reconciling CSR with the Role of the Corporation in Welfare States : The Problematic Swedish Example
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0167-4544 .- 1573-0697. ; 89:Supplement 3, s. 269-283
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article uses the Swedish example to illustrate how corporate social responsibility (CSR) is understood and interpreted when it enters a welfare state context where social issues have traditionally been the domains of the state and of politicians. Among the implications one finds a relative scepticism of traditionally strong actors on the labour market, such as the state, trade unions and employers. This relative scepticism is primarily explained by an enduring idea of the role of business in society which stands in contradistinction to the idea expressed in the corporate centred idea of CSR. Still, CSR gains a foothold in the welfare state context, mainly because of the flexibility of the concept which allows for 'escape routes' - an understanding of CSR that focusses on issues at arm's length from the traditional welfare context. CSR also benefits from being codified in soft regulation, thereby becoming a legitimate super- national point of reference for all relevant actors. The possibility of developing new global arenas for espousing ideals partly in conflict with traditional ones also explains why CSR has become an established concept. In Sweden, such arenas have been created through the activities of multinational corporations, NGOs, investors, the media, consultants and other actors.
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| 2. |
- Egels-Zandén, Niklas, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluating Strategies for Negotiating Workers' Rights in Transnational Corporations: The Effects of Codes of Conduct and Global Agreements on Workplace Democracy
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0167-4544 .- 1573-0697. ; 76:2, s. 207-223
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Following the offshoring of production to developing countries by transnational corporations (TNCs), unions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have criticised working conditions at TNCs’ offshore factories. This has led to the emergence of two different approaches to operationalising TNC responsibilities for workers’ rights in developing countries: codes of conduct and global agreements. Despite the importance of this development, few studies have systematically compared the effects of these two different ways of dealing with workers’ rights. This article addresses this gap by analysing how codes of conduct and global agreements both independently and interactively affect workers’ rights. We do this based on a qualitative study of the Sri Lankan operations of a Swedish TNC in Sri␣Lanka, and on interviews with union and NGO representatives actively involved in codes of conduct and global agreements. Our results indicate that global agreements independently address all the aspects included in codes of conduct, while also addressing additional, more process-oriented aspects of workers’ rights. Hence, on their own, global agreements seem to comprise the superior approach to promoting workers’ rights. Furthermore, our results indicate that promoting codes of conduct has negative interactive effects on global agreements. Based on these results, we argue that the current focus on codes of conduct is counterproductive for the promotion of workers’ rights.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Egels-Zandén, Niklas, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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Post-Partnership Strategies for Defining Corporate Responsibility: The Business Social Compliance Initiative
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0167-4544. ; 70:2, s. 175-189
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While cross-sectoral partnerships are frequently presented as a way to achieve sustainable development, some corporations that first tried using the strategy are now changing direction. Growing tired of what are, in their eyes, inefficient and unproductive cross-sectoral partnerships, firms are starting to form post-cross-sectoral partnerships (‚post-partnerships’) open exclusively to corporations. This paper examines one such post-partnership project, the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), to analyse the possibility of post-partnerships establishing stable definitions of ‚corporate responsibility’. We do this by creating a theoretical framework based on actor-network theory (ANT) and institutional theory. Using this framework, we show that post-partnerships suffer from the paradox of striving to marginalise those stakeholders whose support they need␣for establishing stable definitions of ‚corporate responsibility’. We conclude by discussing whether or not post-partnership strategies, despite this paradox, can be expected to establish stable definitions of ‚corporate responsibility’.
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| 5. |
- Egels-Zandén, Niklas, 1978
(författare)
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Suppliers' Compliance with MNCs' Codes of Conduct: Behind the Scenes at Chinese Toy Suppliers
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0167-4544. ; 75:1, s. 45-62
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite increased academic and practitioner interest in codes of conduct, there has been little research into the actual compliance of suppliers in developing countries with the codes of conduct of multinational corporations (MNCs). This paper addresses this lack by analysing Chinese suppliers’ level of compliance with Swedish toy retailers’ codes of conduct. Based on unannounced and unofficial interviews with employees of Chinese suppliers, the study shows that all of the nine studied suppliers breached some of the standards in the toy retailers’ codes, with over two-thirds of the suppliers not complying with the majority of the studied standards. While there are different explanations of this lack of compliance, the main explanation seems to be that Chinese suppliers successfully deceive toy retailers’ monitoring organisations by decoupling the formal monitored part of their organisation from the actual operational part of their organisation. The paper concludes with a discussion of how to increase compliance with MNCs’ codes of conduct.
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| 6. |
- Egels-Zandén, Niklas, 1978
(författare)
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TNC Motives for Signing International Framework Agreements: A Continuous Bargaining Model of Stakeholder Pressure
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0167-4544 .- 1573-0697. ; 84:4, s. 529-547
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Over the past decade, discussion has flourished among practitioners and academics regarding workers’ rights in developing countries. The lack of enforcement of national labour laws and the limited protection of workers’ rights in developing countries have led workers’ rights representatives to attempt to establish transnational industrial relations systems to complement existing national systems. In practice, these attempts have mainly been operationalised in unilateral codes of conduct; recently, however, negotiated international framework agreements (IFAs) have been proposed as an alternative. Despite their growing importance, few studies have empirically studied IFAs. This paper starts to fill this gap by studying why corporations adopt IFAs, based on a qualitative study of the process leading to the signing of a recent IFA. The study’s findings complement existing research into why corporations adopt IFAs, codes of conduct, and CSR policies by demonstrating that corporate motives can be linked to a desire to retain a trusting relationship with the labour union movement. In addition, the findings indicate that the discrete campaign model of stakeholder pressure dominant in previous research should be complemented by a continuous bargaining model of stakeholder pressure. The paper concludes by discussing differences between these conceptual models of stakeholder pressure and avenues for future research.
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| 7. |
- Egels-Zandén, Niklas, 1978
(författare)
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Transnational Governance of Workers' Rights: Outlining a Research Agenda
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0167-4544 .- 1573-0697. ; 87:2, s. 169-188
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In twentieth century Europe and the USA, industrial relations, labour, and workers’ rights issues have been handled through collective bargaining and industrial agreements between firms and unions, with varying degrees of government intervention from country to country. This industrial relations landscape is currently undergoing fundamental change with the emergence of transnational industrial relations systems that complement existing national industrial relations systems. Despite the significance of this ongoing change, existing research has only started to explore the implications of this change for how workers’ rights are governed around the globe. This paper addresses this gap by outlining an agenda for future research into the transnational governance of workers’ rights. Fulfilling such a research agenda would be both challenging, as it requires combining the so far divergent industrial relations and business ethics research streams, and rewarding, as it provides ample scope for promising future research.
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| 8. |
- Hansson, Sven Ove
(författare)
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Informed consent out of context
- 2006
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0167-4544 .- 1573-0697. ; 63:2, s. 149-154
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Several attempts have been made to transfer the concept of informed consent from medical and research ethics to dealing with affected groups in other areas such as engineering, land use planning, and business management. It is argued that these attempts are unsuccessful since the concept of informed consent is inadequate for situations in which groups of affected persons are dealt with collectively (rather than individually, as in clinical medicine). There are several reasons for this. The affected groups from which informed consent is sought cannot be identified with sufficient precision. Informed consent is associated with individual veto power, but it does not appear realistic to give veto power to all individuals who are affected for instance by an engineering project. Most importantly, the concept of informed consent puts focus on the public's acceptance of ready-made proposals rather than on its participation in the decision-making process as a whole, which includes the development of alternatives for the decision. Therefore, the concept of informed consent is not applicable to a company's relations with groups and collectives. It may, however, be applicable to a company's relations with individual persons such as customers and employees.
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| 9. |
- Hearn, Jeff, 1947-, et al.
(författare)
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"Women home and away" : transnational managerial work and gender relations
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0167-4544 .- 1573-0697. ; 83:1, s. 41-54
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article addresses the intersections, even blurrings, of two "homes" and two "aways" - the personal, 'private' home and the corporate 'public' 'away', and the national home country and corporate base and the transnational work away. Drawing on 40 semi-structured interviews with women and men top and middle managers in seven multinational corporations located in Finland, we examine the complex relations among transnational managerial work, corporate careers and personal, marriage and family-type relations, and their differences for women and men managers. This shows the very different personal and social worlds inhabited by senior women and men managers, and how transnational processes can make those differences even greater.
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| 10. |
- Helin, Sven, 1962-, et al.
(författare)
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An inquiry into the study of corporate codes of ethics
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0167-4544 .- 1573-0697. ; 75:3, s. 253-271
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper takes its point of departure in an article by Stevens [Stevens, B.: 1994, Journal of Business Ethics 54, 163–171], in which she identified a lack of knowledge regarding how corporate codes of ethics are communicated and affect behavior in organizations. Taking heed of this suggested gap, we review studies on corporate codes of ethics with an empirical content, published since 1994. The conclusion of the review is that we still lack knowledge on how codes work, how they are communicated and how they are transformed inside organizations. Stevens’ plea could even be extended, arguing that the knowledge gap might be of even more significance than in the mid-1990s. Some directions for how this situation can be approached in future studies are outlined in the paper.
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