Corporate social responsibility in the global village

Abstract

This thesis analyses recent developments in the field business regulation associated with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through a study of mechanisms for institutionalizing it. I analyse these developments from three different perspectives: academic, practice, and legislative. My aim is to assess if CSR is conceptualized in the same way and if not to understand why. The ultimate goal was to confront these different approaches hoping that the results of the comparison will enrich and improve the knowledge in this field. In the first part of the thesis, I focus on the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility and I analyse the main issues of the debate. Moreover, I present the legal and non-legal mechanisms for institutionalizing CSR at the level of business organizations suggested over the years in the academic literature. In the second part of the thesis, I focus on the impact of globalization and of the sustainable development movement on the CSR debate. I focus on two main aspects: the standards for corporate social and environmental performance set in the so-called 'CSR instruments' and the integration of CSR at the level of the organization. This part is mainly based on case studies in order to present the business point of view on CSR. In the third part, I analyse CSR in the specific context of three legal systems: United States, United Kingdom and Germany. I analyse the national policies in the field of CSR adopted in United Kingdom and Germany. Moreover, I analyse the weight that various mechanisms for institutionalizing CSR presented in the first part of the thesis have in each legal system presented. The core research question is: Which is the precise scope of Corporate Social Responsibility, assuming that it is desirable, and which are the suitable mechanisms for institutionalizing it? The law and other developments are stated as at the end of August 2008.