Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T02:37:03.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

CSR as a Political Arena: The Struggle for a European Framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Bernhard Ungericht  and
Christian Hirt
Bernhard Ungericht
Affiliation:
University of Graz
Christian Hirt
Affiliation:
University of Graz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This contribution is a reaction to the striking fact that the political aspect of CSR has remained largely hidden in most of the scientific and practice-oriented management literature. This work intends to illuminate the political dimension of CSR in that the changing stance of the European Commission toward CSR between 2001 and 2006 is analyzed and interpreted as a result of political processes within an “issue arena”. For this case study written documents from the most important actors are used (EU Commission, EU Parliament, the Council, advocacy groups and lobbies for industry and civil society CSR platforms) as well as interviews with high ranking representatives of these institutions (conducted in the spring of 2008).

Keywords

CSREuropepoltical dimensiondiscourselobbyinginterest groups
Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , December 2010 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © V.K. Aggarwal 2010 and published under exclusive license to Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altvater, Elmar and Mahnkopf, Birgit 1997. Grenzen der Globalisierung. Ökonomie, Ökologie und Politik in der Weltgesellschaft. Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.Google Scholar
Balanya, Belen and Doherty, Ann and Hoedeman, Oliver and Ma‘anit, Adam and Wesselius, Erik 2000. Europe Inc. – Regional & Global Restructuring and the Rise of Corporate Power. London: Pluto Press.Google Scholar
Bayertz, Kurt 1995. Eine kurze Geschichte der Herkunft der Verantwortung. In Bayertz, K. (Hrsg.), Verantwortung. Prinzip oder Problem?, 3–71. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.Google Scholar
Beck, Ulrich 1997. Was ist Globalisierung? Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Benford, Robert D. and Snow, David A. 2000. Framing Processes and Social Movements: An Overview and Assessment. Annual Review of Sociology 26: 611–639.Google Scholar
Bottomley, Stephen and Kinley, David 2002. Commercial Law and Human Rights. Burlington: Ashgate Darmouth.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, John and Drahos, Peter 2000. Global Business Regulation. Cambridge: University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brunsson, Nils 1989. The Organization of Hypocrisy. New York: Campus.Google Scholar
Commission of the European Communities 2001. Green Paper. Promoting a European framework for Corporate Social Responsibility, presented by the Commission (COM (2001) 366 final of 18.7.2001): http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/csr/policy.htm, January 2009.Google Scholar
Commission of the European Communities 2002. Communication from the Commission concerning Corporate Social Responsibility: A business contribution to Sustainable Development (COM (2002) 347 final of 2.7.2002): http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/csr/policy.htm, January 2009.Google Scholar
Commission of the European Communities 2006. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee – Implementing the partnership for growth and jobs: Making Europe a pole of excellence on Corporate Social Responsibility (COM (2006) 136 final of 22.3.2006): http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/csr/policy.htm, January 2009.Google Scholar
CSR Europe 2005. Roadmap. A European Roadmap for Businesses. Towards a Sustainable and Competitive Enterprise. http://www.csreurope.org/data/files/european_roadmap_for_businesses_2005.pdf, first accessed September 2008.Google Scholar
Cutler, Claire A. 2006. Transnational business civilization, corporations, and the privatization of global governance. In May, C. (ed.), Global corporate power, 199–226. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Press.Google Scholar
De Schutter, Olivier 2008. Corporate Social Responsibility European Style. European Law Journal 14 (2): 203–236.Google Scholar
Detomasi, David A. 2008. The Political Roots of Corporate Social Responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, DOI 10.1007/s10551-007-9594-y, 82 (4): 807–819.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Winter, Rebecca 2001. The anti-sweatshop movement: Constructing corporate moral agency in the global apparel industry. Ethics & International Affairs 15 (2): 99–115.Google Scholar
Dicken, Peter 1998. Global Shift Transforming the World Economy. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Group of Lisbon 1996. Limits to Competition. London: MIT Press.Google Scholar
ECCJ (European Coalition for Corporate Justice) 2006a. Working for a sustainable world in which corporations’ drive for profit is balanced by the interests of society at large and respect for the environment and human social rights. http://www.corporatejustice.org/BROCHURE_ECCJ.pdf, first accessed October 2008.Google Scholar
ECCJ (European Coalition for Corporate Justice) 2006b. Corporate social responsibility at EU level. Proposals and recommendations to the European Commission and the European Parliament. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/dv/eccadvocacybriefmg112006_/eccadvocacybriefmgn206_en.pdf, first accessed October 2008.Google Scholar
ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation) 2006. Corporate Social Responsibility and European Trade Unions: danger of a rift. http://www.etuc.org/a/2190, first accessed October 2008.Google Scholar
European Parlament. Committee on Employment and Social Affairs 2006. Draft report on corporate social responsibility: a new partnership. (2006/2133(INI)), Rapporteur: Richard Howitt, 08.11.2006: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/FindByProcnum.do?lang=en&procnum=INI/2006/2133, January 2009.Google Scholar
Habisch, André and Jonker, Jan and Wegner, Matin and Schmidpeter, René 2005. Corporate Social Responsibility Across Europe. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
ICHRP (International Council on Human Rights Policy) 2002. Beyond Voluntarism: Human Rights and the Developing International Legal Obligations of Companies, 77–120. http://www.ichrp.org/excerpts/41.pdf, October 2008.Google Scholar
Kingsbury, Benedict 2003. The International Legal Order. In Cane, Peter and Tushnet, Mark (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Legal Studies, 271–97. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kolk, Ans and van Tulder, Rob 2005. Setting new global rules? TNCs and codes of Conduct. Transnational Corporations 14 (3): 1–27.Google Scholar
Lawrence, Thomas B. 1999. Institutional Strategy. Journal of Management 25: 161–187.Google Scholar
Mathews, Jessica T. 1997. Power Shift. Foreign Affairs January/February: 50–66.Google Scholar
Matten, Dirk and Moon, Jeremy 2005. A Conceptual Framework for Understanding CSR. In: Habisch, André and Jonker, Jan and Wegner, Martin and Schmidpeter, René (eds.), Corporate Social Responsibility Across Europe, 335–357. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Meyer, John W. and Rowan, Brian 1977. Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony. American Journal of Sociology 83: 340–363.Google Scholar
Meyer, David and Tarrow, Sidney 1998. A movement society: contentious politics for a new century. In Meyer, David and Tarrow, Sidney (eds.), The social movement society - Contentious politics for a new Century, 1–28. Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Scherer, Andreas G. and Palazzo, Guido 2007. Toward A Political Conception of Corporate Responsibility: Business And Society seen from a Habermasian Perspective. Academy of Management Review 32 (4): 1096–1120.Google Scholar
Schneidewind, Uwe 1997. Die Unternehmung als strukturpolitischer Akteur – Kooperatives Schnittmengenmanagement im ökologischen Kontext. Marburg: Metropolis.Google Scholar
Shamir, Ronen 2004. The de-radicalization of Corporate Social Responsibility. Critical Sociology 30 (3): 669–689.Google Scholar
UEAPME (European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) 2007. UEAPME Annual Report 2006. Brüssel. http://www.ueapme.com/docs/general_pubs/AnnualReport2006-print.pdf, November 2008.Google Scholar
Ulrich, Peter 2008. Integrative Wirtschaftsethik. Grundlagen einer lebensdienlichen Ökonomie. Bern: Haupt.Google Scholar
Ungericht, Bernhard and Raith, Dirk and Korenjak, Thomas 2008. Corporate Social Responsibility oder gesellschaftliche Unternehmensverantwortung? Kritische Reflexionen, empirische Befunde und politische Empfehlungen. Wien: LIT.Google Scholar
UNICE (Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe) 2002. Launch of EMS on CSR. Address by Philippe de Buck. In: European Commission. Employment and Social Affairs, EU Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Corporate Responsibility (CSR EMS Forum), August 2003, 19-20. http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/csr/documents/last_forum_complete2.pdf, November 2008.Google Scholar
UNICE (Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe) 2006. Internal Communication as of 13 March 2006. http://www.foeeurope.org/corporates/pdf/UNICE%20letter.pdf, November 2009.Google Scholar
Utting, Peter 2002. Regulating business via multistakeholder initiatives: A preliminary assessment. In Utting, Peter (ed.), Voluntary Approaches to Corporate Responsibility, 61–130. Genf: UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service.Google Scholar
Watkins, Michael and Edwards, Mickey and Thakrar, Usha 2001. Winning the Influence Game. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Weissbrodt, David 2005. Corporate Human Rights Responsibilities. Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik 8 (3): 279–297.Google Scholar
Williamson, Hugh and Minder, Raphael and Proissl, Wolfgang 2006. Brussels to side with business on CSR. Financial Times as of 13 March 2006.Google Scholar
Yoffie, David 1987. Corporate Strategies for Political Action: A Rational Model. In: Marcus, A. A. and Kaufmann, A. M. and Beam, D. A. (eds.), Business Strategy and Public Policy: Perspectives from Industry and Academia. New York: Quorum.Google Scholar