Corporations

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Corporations Private Sector Development

• Institutions of Aid, Week 5, 2008

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The Rise of CSR

• Corporate social responsibility is all the
  rageOne of the biggest corporate fads of the
  1990s was the flowering of corporate social
  responsibilityGreed is out. Corporate virtue,
  or the appearance of it, is in(The Economist,
  24th January, 2004)
• A new post-Washington consensus era of
  compassionate capitalism and development with a
  human face?

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The Rise of CSR A New Industry

• The Business Case Just good business
• CSR professionals (Consultants)
• Yahoo groups (CSR Chicks Blokes, CSR-Africa,
  CSR-dev)
• Social auditors (PWC, KPMG)
• Indices (BITC index, FTSE4Good, Dowe Jones
  sustainability Index)
• Academic discipline (MAs, MBAs, ICCSR at Notts
  Uni, diploma)
• Proliferation of national and international
  codes, standards and international frameworks
  (BITC PerCent standard,, GC, GRI, UN norms, OECD,
  ISO 14000, AA1000, GMI, ETI, WBCSD, GBC on
  HIV/Aids, Africa Corporate Sustainability Forum,)
• Conventions, conferences, workshops, awards (BITC
  - PTO),

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Coca-Cola scoops top prize at annual business
awards, Irish Times, Gary McDonald, Business
Editor, 30/05/08
5
TNCs as Agents of Development

• Our goal is to unlock the enormous reservoir of
  talent, capability and
• passion that resides in the people in this system
  to tear down the
• barriers that prevent us from working together in
  a collaborative
• environment to make great things happen for all
  of us
• (Coca Cola 2002)
• Our core values of honesty, integrity and
  respect for people define who
• we are and how we work. These values have been
  embodied in our
• business principles for more that 25 years, which
  since 1997 include a
• commitment to support human rights and to
  contribute to sustainable
• development. Corporate social responsibility is
  not cosmetic it must be
• rooted in our values
• (Sir Philip Watts (ex-) Chairman of Shell, 2004)

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Companies Communities

• At the heart of our business is the trust
  consumers place in us. They rightly expect that
  we are managing our business according to sound
  ethical principles, that we are enhancing the
  health of our communities, and that we are using
  natural resources responsibly. We believe that
  being part of communities around the world is a
  privilege one we must earn every day by making
  responsible, effective decisions and investments
  that benefit our company and our communities
  alike(Douglas N. Daft, Chairman of Coca Cola,
  2004)

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Is this new?

• 19th century industrial philanthropy Cadburys,
  Rowntree, Bournville.
• The British South Africa Company in Northern
  Rhodesia
• The East India Company in India
• The Hudson Bay company in Canada
• Sir Earnest Oppenheimer, founder of Anglo
  American in 1917, said in 1954
• The aim of this group is, and will remain, to
• make profits for our shareholders, but to do it
  in such a
• way as to make a real and lasting contribution to
  the
• communities in which we operate

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A New Era of Corporate Responsibility?

• Corporations in Trouble (Brent Spar Shell in
  Nigeria BP in Colombia Bophal Coca Cola in
  India Gap, Nike sweatshop labour..)
• Reaction of civil society to corporate power -
  growing debate about the impact of and resistance
  to globalisation
• - Regulation
• The failure of national and international
  attempts to restrict the of corporate power
  during the 20th C.
• - Anti-corporate activism (Seattle, Gothenberg,
  Genoa)
• - Globalised Resistance
• Globalization of resistance movement through
  ICTs etc - Media
• No Logo, The Corporation, Super Size Me

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NGOs Business Combat to Collaboration?

• Ubiquitous language of partnership
• - BAT states that it regards its farmers as
  valued business partners
• - Rio Tinto Global Citizen, Local Partner
• Changing relationship between NGOs TNCs
• - Bendell From Barricades to Boardrooms
• - Doane Partnering with the Enemy
• Eg. WWF Conservation Partners
• Why is the language of partnership so important?
• How does it change the role of NGOs?

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NGOs Business II Collaboration to Combat

• Christian Aid Report
• CSR, in other words, can become merely a branch
  of PR. Sometimes this looks like the only reason
  for spurts of development activity by large
  companiesChristian Aid, of course, supports
  responsible and ethical action by business. The
  problem with CSR,we say, is that it is unable to
  deliver on its grand promises.
• Amnesty International BP - Azerbaijan-Turkey
  pipeline
• - 1760km
• - BP claim consultation with 450 communities,
  30,000 landowners 750,000 people along the
  route
• - Amnesty claim A rights free corridor across
  central Asia

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The UN Business

• Let us choose to unite the power of markets
  with the authority of universal ideals. Let us
  choose to reconcile the creative forces of
  private entrepreneurship with the needs of the
  disadvantaged.
• (Kofi Annan, World Economic Forum in Davos
  Switzerland 1999)

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• Voluntary frameworks
• (UN Global Compact,
• UN Norms etc) provide a
• positive form of civil
• society regulation
• harnessing the power of
• corporations to good
• ends?
• Or..

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Government Business

• Governments have failed, business offers the
  solution?
• Governments and their main instruments, such as
  the UN, have failed in tackling
  under-development their failurehas provided an
  empty space that must be filled by another entity
  the private sector and its champions, the large
  corporations (Michael Hopkins (2007) Corporate
  Social Responsibility International
  Development)
• Companies usurping the role of government thru
  CSR?
• Business has now become the dominant
  institution
• (David Korten (2001) When Corporations Rule the
  World)
• Claiming new territory in virtually every
  dimension of existence (Rowe 2001)
• A perfect partnership between the two?
• The message from the business sector is blunt
  we want to do business with you, but in various
  ways you make it very difficult. Let us help you
  do away with those difficulties (Phaswana 2006).

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Critical Approaches Debates

• CSR PR Its all just Greenwash
• Do we have anything more interesting
• to say about CSR?
• Voluntary v. Mandatory debate
• Silver bullet where states have failed
• Undermining state power
• New era of responsible capitalism think about
  this in relation to current economic crisis
• A Trojan horse?....

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Questions

• Whats new about the role/power of corporations
  today? Is CSR a new phenomenon?
• Is there a legitimate role for corporations in
  development?
• Does CSR regulate or further empower
  corporations? (Is CSR more than just greenwash?)
• Is partnership the solution?