Regulating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for Economic and Social Development Through Trade Rules

Abstract

Multinationals affirm corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a way to go further than national and international law to build a social compact. While CSR can contribute to an effective global labor governance scheme, we argue that national and international laws must be engaged to regulate CSR private governance schemes. We will support this argument and, furthermore, we will argue that international trade agreements can provide, if effectively enforced, grounds for the articulation. It can be argued that hybrid governance schemes could ensure that result-oriented and pragmatic developmental processes are at the core of the CSR–development nexus. In this article, we argue for the need to socialize CSR to make it more efficient, and that trade agreements can be part of this process. CSR is not an autonomous regulatory trajectory, and it will probably become increasingly regulated through institutional means.

Are Mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Interventions in India Demand-Driven? The Case of Karnataka

“…About mandating CSR in Indonesia, Waagstein (2011) argues that even if it is legitimate, it is problematic in practice as it requires precise interpretation of the concept of CSR and an effective implementation mechanism with appropriate means of verifying the impact. Rioux and Vaillancourt (2020) support the argument that CSR private governance schemes should be regulated by national and international laws to make CSR more efficient. A possibility of co-production of policy options by the state and companies for the practice of CSR was explored by Haslam (2020).…”

States and Firms Co-producing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Developing World

“…396–398; Scherer & Palazzo, 2007, p. 1098). Both Pike (2020) and Rioux and Vaillancourt (2020) consider different aspects of this problem, focusing on labor standards. The growth in the role of the firm was seen as a response to the governance challenges created by globalization, and the declining regulatory power of the nation-state (Moon, 2002, p. 390; Scherer & Palazzo, 2011, pp.…”

“…In this context, companies may make decisions in the “shadow of the state,” being fearful of the potential for state regulation of their affairs (Haufler, 2001, pp. 20–26; also Rioux & Vaillancourt, 2020), but their actions are autonomously made in an economic, social, and environmental space over which they have decision-making authority.…”