White capital: Corporate social responsibility and the limits of transformation in South Africa

Atal, Maha Rafi

doi:10.1016/j.exis.2017.10.007

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Despite local adaptations, legitimating processes are usually still oriented toward western countries where the corporate headquarters, major investors, target audiences, and (aspirational) peer groups are located (Jamali, 2010). As a result, such CSR policies do not do justice to the plurality of voices on the ground where social justice issues actually unfold (Atal, 2017; Ehrnström-Fuentes, 2016; Lauwo, 2018). These western-centric practices serve the purpose first and foremost of legitimating corporate activities.…”

Section: Why Micro-csr Research Needs Intellectual Activismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During a nationwide strike of the United Auto Workers against General Motors, for instance, General Motors stopped paying healthcare coverage for striking employees (LaReau, 2019). Similarly, Atal (2017) describes the case of the Lonmin mining company in South Africa that ran a hospital for mining-related health risks as well as clinics attending to workers with HIV/Aids under the CSR banner, and which, in times of labor unrest, would suspend anti-retroviral treatments for workers on strike. As these cases illustrate, activists can incur penalties extending even to the withdrawal of the supposed safety nets that companies – and employment systems – might provide (Allen and Tüselmann, 2009; Bidwell et al, 2013; Tüselmann et al, 2015).…”

Section: New Directions For Micro-csr Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transforming corporate social responsibilities: Toward an intellectual activist research agenda for micro-CSR research

2020

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In their recent essay, Gond and Moser (2019) have proposed that micro-CSR research has the potential to “matter” and transform business practices as it engages closely with how individuals in companies work with and experience corporate social responsibility (CSR). But can micro-CSR research in its current form realize this transformative potential and serve social justice? Adopting an intellectual activist position, we argue that the transformative potential of micro-CSR is severely limited by its predominant focus on CSR as defined, presented, and promoted by companies themselves, thereby serving to sustain the hegemony of the business case for CSR, promoting narrow interests and maintaining managerial control over corporate responsibilities. We propose that micro-CSR researchers broaden the scope of their research to cultivate the potential of alternative ideas, voices, and activities found in organizational life. In so doing we lay out a research agenda that embraces employee activism, listens to alternative voices, and unfolds confrontational, subversive, and covert activities. In the hope of inspiring other micro-CSR researchers to explore these unconventional paths, we also offer suggestions as to how we can pursue them through empirical research.

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Section: Why Micro-csr Research Needs Intellectual Activismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: New Directions For Micro-csr Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transforming corporate social responsibilities: Toward an intellectual activist research agenda for micro-CSR research

2020

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“…Each of these criteria carries a points value, and companies are permitted to outperform targets on some metrics to compensate for lackluster performance on others. Companies' ability to play different aspects of this regulatory regime off one another, to pick the low-hanging fruit of compliance and defer more substantial reform, has long been a sore point for reg-ulators, even as companies express frustration with the internal contradictions of the regulatory regime (Atal 2017). The 26 percent share ownership target has been particularly controversial, and multinational companies have often balked at compliance altogether.…”

Section: Hardening Human Rightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Globalizing Regulation: A New Progressive Agenda for Trade and Investment

Atal

2022

Global Perspectives

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The past two decades have witnessed growing concern about the challenges governments face in regulating multinational corporations. Trade and investment agreements play a crucial role in setting the regulatory regime that governs these transnational activities. The multilateral trade and investment regime has been experiencing a period of crisis, with the collapse of proceedings at the World Trade Organization’s appellate body and the failure of the Doha Development Round. During this period, states have turned to unilateral, bilateral and regional channels in lieu of multilateral progress. Bilateral and regional agreements contain a much higher degree of regulatory coordination among members, including a growing number of binding standards on labor, the environment and human rights which apply to multinational corporations operating across the trading blocs. This paper reviews three cases of states, or groups of states, endeavoring to impose binding regulation on multinational corporations through the trade and investment regime. This paper argues, that these efforts, while partial, form the basis for a new multilateral trade and investment regime that holds corporations accountable. It shows that during the multilateral system’s period of crisis, as states in both the Global North and Global South have pursued their own strategies and shown a shared commitment to increasing their regulatory capacity, the policy consensus among practitioners at the multilateral level has shifted towards accommodating these efforts. Together, this paper argues, these developments lay the groundwork for a new multilateral model of trade and corporate accountability.

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“…Allerdings bildet im Feld der menschenrechtlichen Unternehmensverantwortung das Menschenrechtsregime durchaus einen etablierten und institutionalisierten Maßstab, der eine Differenz von "gut" und "schlecht" markiert und die Maßstäbe für diese Unterscheidung offen legt. 5 Selbst vor diesem Hintergrund jedoch kann unternehmerisches Handeln eine Gleichzeitigkeit von menschenrechtsstärkenden und menschenrechtsschwächenden Effekten aufweisen: etwa dann, wenn der Coca-Cola-Konzern für seinen Umgang mit gewerkschaftlichen Bewegungen oder für die gesundheitli-chen Folgen seiner Produkte unter massiver Kritik steht und sich gleichzeitig umfassend an der Distribution von AIDS/HIV-Medikamenten in Tansania und anderen afrikanischen Ländern beteiligt, 6 oder wenn in Räumen begrenzter Staatlichkeit die unternehmerische Bereitstellung von Infrastruktur, Bildung und Gesundheitsversorgung positive Effekte für Unternehmensmitarbeiter/-innen hat, aber zu einer eklatanten Verschlechterung der Lebensbedingungen der lokalen Bevölkerungsteile führt, die nicht für das Unternehmen arbeiten (Atal 2017). Wenn aber "gut" und "schlecht" derart nah beieinander liegen, kann die Abbildung von Komplexität in einen Relativismus kippen, der keine normative Unterscheidungsmöglichkeit mehr bietet.…”

Section: Abbildung Von Komplexitätunclassified

Einfach komplex? Die Übersetzung politikwissenschaftlicher Komplexität in die Gesellschaft

Mende

Müller

2020

Z Politikwiss

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Zusammenfassung Der Artikel diskutiert die Herausforderungen des Transfers politikwissenschaftlicher Komplexität in die Gesellschaft. Wir unterscheiden dafür zwischen den drei idealtypischen Modellen a) einer Vereinfachung von Komplexität, b) der Abbildung von Komplexität sowie c) der Übersetzung von Komplexität. Die Anforderungen an das dritte Modell einer Übersetzung politikwissenschaftlicher Komplexität entwickeln wir anhand fachdidaktischer Diskussionen der Politischen Bildung, die wir Subdisziplinen-übergreifend mit dem Beispiel unternehmerischer Menschenrechtsverantwortung aus der Global-Governance-Forschung verbinden. Der reflexiven Politischen Bildung entnehmen wir Multiperspektivität, die Offenlegung und Begründung normativer Maßstäbe, eine subjektorientierte Mündigkeit der Adressat/-innen und das Aushalten von Spannungsfeldern, um Bildungsprozesse zu organisieren. Die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Übersetzung von Komplexität zeigen wir anhand der Weiterentwicklung einer menschenrechtlichen Unternehmensverantwortung auf globaler Ebene auf. Dieses Feld ist von Spannungen zwischen einem hohen Grad an (rechtlicher, wirtschaftlicher und politischer) Komplexität und einem Bedürfnis nach einfachen Antworten gekennzeichnet. Eine zentrale Stärke der Übersetzung von Komplexität skizzieren wir darin, dass sie einen Startpunkt für gesellschaftliches Denken und Handeln anbietet, statt dieses durch Dichotomien, Vorenthalten von Wissen, Überforderung oder vorgegebene Antworten abzuschneiden. So kann die Übersetzung von politikwissenschaftlicher Komplexität gesellschaftliche Denk- und Handlungsmöglichkeiten ausbauen.

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White capital: Corporate social responsibility and the limits of transformation in South Africa

Cited by 9 publications

References 14 publications

Transforming corporate social responsibilities: Toward an intellectual activist research agenda for micro-CSR research

Transforming corporate social responsibilities: Toward an intellectual activist research agenda for micro-CSR research

Globalizing Regulation: A New Progressive Agenda for Trade and Investment

Einfach komplex? Die Übersetzung politikwissenschaftlicher Komplexität in die Gesellschaft

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